War Mage

by Logan Knight

  The soldiers were too busy to reorganize themselves when I charged up the center, though. Two slashes later, two bodies fell—each with smoke climbing out of their split helmets.

  I’d expected the three remaining soldiers to surrender. They were clearly outclassed, and two were injured. Instead, they kept fighting. The one Alena had shot in the shin threw his shield at her, which she easily jumped over before she planted an arrow into his other leg, just below his groin. He screamed in pain as the one with the wounded wrist tried to shield him from any more injury. I removed that soldier’s head while Nadia engaged the last one.

  He tried to bash the woman with his shield, but she saw it coming and dodged out of the way. When he brought his sword down, she parried it with her knife and delivered a bone-crunching elbow to his chin.

  The soldier began to drool blood but kept fighting as Nadia danced around him, delivering small cuts and jabs to his knees, elbows, and calves. After toying with him for several seconds, she stabbed him with two blades—one into each side of his neck—and pushed until their guards touched his skin.

  “I think I want to learn how to do what she does,” Alena whispered to me.

  “Me too,” I laughed.

  “Should we flee?” Nadia asked as she rejoined us. More voices were coming from the woods—soldiers who’d heard the commotion and were headed our way to investigate.

  “No,” I said. “We don’t want to run into an ambush. Let's kill these ones and try to get away afterward.”

  “Why didn’t they run?” Alena asked. “At least the last two, anyway. Didn’t they know they’d lose?”

  “Probably,” I said as six more guards approached from three different directions. “But I’m guessing their priests told them of some kind of terrible consequence if they ever flee. Their god probably frowns upon retreat.”

  “That’s dumb,” Alena mumbled.

  The soldiers took a quick look at the situation, raised their shields, and paired-up. There were two for each of us.

  Nadia crouched low, a dagger in each hand. Alena only had a few arrows left and would have to use her sword soon. My flaming blade appeared to be giving the two men who’d squared off with me second thoughts.

  Alena was the first to attack. She fired at their legs. When they dropped their shields to defend themselves, a dagger whirled through the air and buried itself in one of their foreheads.

  When his companion raised his shield, Alena sent an arrow through his foot, which pinned him to the ground. Then she dropped her bow, lifted her sword, and advanced.

  My opponents looked to be in shock but recovered enough of their wits to raise their shields as I approached. I cast a spell at the man on the left, which seemed to have no effect until a second spell sent an arrow through his brittle shield and into his arm.

  His companion stabbed his sword at me—a short movement that would have barely pierced me if it had made contact—and withdrew his blade. He tried it again, and then a third time. On the fourth, I kicked the blade hard to one side, but he held on tight.

  While the injured man stared at his ruined limb in horror, the other soldier tried to bash me with his shield, but I took a step back, grabbed the top of the defensive tool, and slid my blade into his face. He went limp, but I kept pushing, listening to his flesh sizzle until he collapsed.

  When the injured one turned to run, I sliced the back of his knee, which sent him tumbling to the ground. He stopped screaming when I plunged my sword through his back.

  Nadia and Alena were having trouble with the last two soldiers, so I charged toward them to help. The brutes were bigger than most of the rest. They’d abandoned their shields and were using their swords two-handed, chopping at the women in an attempt to wear them out. A magical arrow to each of their throats ended the fight.

  Nadia walked back to me as four more soldiers approached. Alena was collecting spent arrows from nearby bodies.

  I wondered if we’d managed to attract the whole army. I hoped not, but like before, I was ready to die, especially if it meant I could take some more Xorian soldiers out with me.

  Three crashed through the bushes, and when they reached the scene, raised their shields and drew close together before gaping at their surroundings. The look in the men’s eyes told me they’d never seen such carnage before.

  The fourth soldier, however, lagged behind a bit. Instead of joining his companions, he staggered and swayed on his feet—eyes as wide as they could go—as he took it all in. I’d found my target.

  The three guards who’d lined-up looked like they were having a difficult time deciding who they should attack. For a moment, it looked like they were going to split up, but they decided against it.

  “Get over here!” one of them called over his shoulder.

  The frightened one hurried to them and took his position at the far left of the line. A glance at each of the women told me they’d noticed his hesitation as well.

  “That one’s mine,” I whispered. “Don’t kill him.”

  Alena snickered softly and began to move to the left, forcing the scared soldier to shift his position slightly to his right to protect the others from her bow. She was among the pile of dead bodies from our previous encounters, which would make it more difficult for the soldiers to attack if they decided they wanted to challenge her first.

  Nadia crept to the right, slinking between trees and bushes. I wasn’t sure if she’d meant to, but her sneaky movements seemed to be making it difficult for them to concentrate on me—the man standing right in front of them.

  As the soldiers crept forward, the men on the ends had to wrap around until they’d formed a complete defensive turtle. It was insanity, and I couldn’t understand their reasoning. The bodies of our opponents littered the earth around our feet. They were no different than any other Xorian soldiers as far as they could tell, but instead of running—which might have saved their lives—they attacked. I couldn’t decide if it was courage, stupidity, or zeal for Ru’Hijan, their god.

  I faked a charge, which turned several of their heads my direction. Nadia followed up with a spinning blade. At the same time, Alena launched an arrow, and I charged.

  I feigned an overhand strike, ducked low, and slammed my shoulder hard into the first soldier’s shield, driving him back as his feet left the ground. When I heard him slam into the soldier behind him, I stopped in front of a man standing off to the side. He was too busy worrying what Alena was doing to pay attention to me.

  Since he was the one I wanted to interrogate, I smacked him on the side of his head with the back of my sword instead of chopping his legs off like I wanted to. He went down hard, unconscious, and burned, but still alive.

  Nadia had finished off the soldier she’d been fighting, and the other two were backing away slowly. For the first time, it looked like a Xorian soldier was thinking about running. But if I allowed them to leave, I knew I would have to deal with them again later.

  It turned out to be a feint. When I rushed after the soldiers, they brought their shields together and raised their weapons, looks of victory in their expressions. That changed when the one on the left caught an arrow to his forearm and dropped his sword.

  I blocked the strike from the man on the right and countered with an uppercut. I hit him so hard I heard his teeth snap together. It sounded like glass breaking and his mouth filled with spit and foamy blood as he shrieked.

  A moment later, they were both dead. The soldier on the left misplaced his head. Nadia provided the one on the right with about a dozen new holes for his back.

  After checking with the women to make sure they were okay, I quickly scanned the surroundings. It was difficult to see much detail in the dim light, but the number of bodies surrounding me was surreal. Pools of blood reflected the meager moonlight peeking between the trees.

  “Is this the one we’re going to interrogate?” Alena asked, pointing at the man I’d clubbed.

  “Yes,” I said. “Let’s get him out of here qu
ick. I hear more voices headed our way.”

  16

  Alena and I dragged the soldier away from the road and deeper into the forest. We needed some privacy in case things got messy. Based on his behavior during the battle, I didn’t think getting him to talk was going to be an issue.

  Nadia walked backward, keeping an eye on where we’d been to make sure we weren’t being followed. She turned around once in a while to make sure we weren’t heading into a trap, either. I was glad to see her demonstrate her loyalty again, though I never doubted it for a second.

  Once we’d dragged him far enough away we were certain we wouldn’t be disturbed, we dragged him a couple of minutes more. When he started to stir, I decided we’d gone far enough.

  Alena helped me bring the guard to a small tree. It was about a foot in diameter and would serve my purposes well.

  “Keep an eye on him,” I said.

  Then I turned to the soldier who looked too groggy to be frightened yet. The wound on the side of his head looked nasty and had begun to bleed. The burned skin had cracked, and once he came to, it was going to hurt.

  When his eyes finally focused, I made sure the knife’s blade was right in front of his face so he could get a good look at it.

  “D-don’t kill me, please,” he sputtered.

  “He’s not much of a soldier, is he?” Alena asked. I mean, why is he acting like that?”

  “I didn’t want to join the army,” the man sputtered, looking back and forth between us. “I didn’t have a choice. They don’t give us a choice!”

  “Sit still and maybe we can make this a painless experience,” I said.

  “Did you bring rope?” I asked Alena.

  “Yes,” she said as she threw off her pack. A moment later, she was holding about thirty feet of thick, rough cord out to show me.

  “I need to borrow one of your knives,” I said to Nadia. “My sword may be a bit much for what I have planned.”

  “Of course,” she said as she drew one and handed it to me hilt first.

  “Bind his arms behind the tree,” I said to Alena.

  “Oh, I’m not going anywhere,” the man said, his voice rising to a panicked pitch. “I’ll stay right here until you—ouch!”

  “Oh, was that too tight?” Alena asked as she looped the rope around his hands again and cinched it even tighter. “Don’t worry—the rope’s new. It’ll stretch.”

  The man smiled, but it barely moved his lips.

  “Nadia,” I said, “please keep an eye on our perimeter. Make sure nobody is sneaking up on us, but stay close.”

  The woman nodded. A few seconds later, she’d vanished into the darkness of the forest. It was spooky how good she was at doing that.

  As soon as Alena returned to my side, I began questioning the soldier.

  “First question,” I said. “Were you part of the army who slaughtered the Dahani forces at the beach?”

  The soldier hesitated for a second and offered a pleading look to Alena before answering.

  “Yes,” he said, “but I didn’t want to. I didn’t sign up for any of this. We were supposed to be a defensive army—that’s all. We’re only supposed to stay here and protect the northlands from the Hidden Army. That’s it.

  “Nobody’s ever seen the Hidden Army, right? So nobody thinks it’s real. It’s supposed to be a relaxing job. Go march around for a while, maybe kill a snake or some random forest creature we find—stuff like that. Nothing serious, especially nothing like destroying an entire army.”

  He was breathing hard and on the verge of babbling. I stared into his eyes and let him sweat for a minute before I spoke again.

  “How’d you do it?” I asked.

  “W-what do you mean?” he stammered.

  “How did your army end up looking like mine?”

  Even in the dim light filtering through the trees, I could see him blanche. “You were part of the army we killed?” he asked. “You’re the one who escaped the prison and murdered all those guards?”

  “The same,” I said. “Now answer the question. How did your army manage to do that? Was it this?” I used Nadia’s knife to cut the leather straps holding the front of his uniform together, exposing the plain, tan shirt he wore underneath. He squeaked when I dragged the tip of the blade across his chest, hooked a steel chain hanging from his neck, and revealed his amulet.

  “W-we’re not supposed to talk about that,” he stammered.

  “Do you think I care what you’re supposed to do?” I asked. “Is this how you were able to look like one of my soldiers?”

  I watched the man swallow and take a deep breath before he answered. “Yes,” he said as he started to weep.

  I wondered if he was trying to make me feel sorry for him. If so, it wasn’t working. He was part of the heartless machine who’d killed Nadia’s people, kidnapped her, and kept her imprisoned for hundreds—possibly a thousand—years. His army was preparing to load onto ships headed to the Kingdom of Dahan—a country that never asked for war. I wasn’t interested in his feelings.

  “I was getting ready to run anyway,” the soldier said. “To leave the army. I was going to head south past the borders. I could live in the woods and disappear.”

  “That sounds like a good plan,” Alena said. “You might just survive the day if you keep thinking positive thoughts like that. But, I think that’s bullshit. I say we cut your throat and leave you for the forest animals to feed on.”

  Alena was having trouble hiding her amusement, and I spotted it. She was faking it—acting like she was eager to kill the man. I knew it had worked because he started blabbering again.

  “No, please don’t,” he said, turning his attention back to me. “Tell her I’m telling you the truth! If you let me live, you’ll never see me again. I swear it! I’ll disappear!”

  “Convince me,” I said, “or she’ll do it. Tell me about the creature your amulet is tied to.”

  “Creature?” the man asked.

  Alena drew her sword, which was enough to get him talking again.

  “Oh, you mean the hooded thing?” the soldier asked. “The hooded thing they always take everywhere?”

  “Yes,” I said, “tell me all about it.”

  The soldier’s bottom lip quivered as he stared at Alena’s sword. “I don’t know anything about it,” he said. “They keep it covered. It’s got chains on its wrists. Big ones. Brass. Or maybe gold. I don’t know. We’re not supposed to look at it.”

  “How does your amulet work?” I asked.

  The man shrugged. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “We all have one, though. All the soldiers have one. The others think it’s magic. We get them from the general. He said he got them from Ru’Hijan himself. He said we could never speak of it or lose it. The punishment is death. See? I can’t go back now. I talked about the amulet! You have to believe me now!”

  “What do you know of the amulets the prison guards used?” I asked.

  “Soldiers talk,” he admitted. “Sometimes we’d go to the fortress on patrol. The guards said it allowed them to track people who escaped. Nobody ever got away. They said they could hear the heartbeat of anyone who tried. They could tell where the people were. Even how far they’d run. That’s how they caught everyone who tried to escape. I don’t think anyone even made it out of the fortress, before you.”

  “So how do you look like someone else using your amulet?” I asked.

  “We don’t,” he said, “the officers make it work. Our amulets make us look like other people. We don’t know if its only people the captains or general have seen, or if it can look like anyone. Maybe they can make it up in their head?”

  “And what’s its purpose?” I asked, even though I was certain I knew the answer.

  The soldier got a mournful look in his eye and glanced at Alena’s sword before answering. “It allows us to get close to our enemies,” he said. “They don’t know we’re among them until it’s too late. Then the army attacks from within. Some of the older
soldiers say they’ve done it to entire cities. They show up and look like regular people—whatever those people look like. It usually takes a long time until someone realizes all the people look exactly the same. By then, it’s too late. My captain changed us once and made us all look like him. It was weird, but we could still tell who was on our side and who wasn’t. I guess he did it just to prove he could.”

  “Where is the hooded creature you spoke of?” I asked.

  “At the fortress,” the man said.

  Alena cursed and kicked at the ground.

  “But they’ll be coming down to the beach soon,” the soldier said. “The tide won’t be in for at least a couple of hours, but they’ve got to get everything ready. They’ll bring the hooded thing. They always bring it.”

  “What else is at the fortress?” I asked. “Soldiers?”

  “Yes,” the man said as he winced at the pain of the wound on the side of his head. “The general is up there. Maybe thirty soldiers. I’m not sure—I only saw them as they marched past.”

  Alena had been quiet for a while, so it startled me a bit when she gasped. “I think I know what the creature is,” she said. “I just remembered a story my grandfather told me. I think the creature is a doppelganger. Nadia might know more, though.”

  “Go find her and send her back to us, please,” I said.

  A few minutes later, Nadia walked from the darkness, appearing virtually out of thin air.

  At first, the soldier looked shocked, but then he started admiring her pale skin and sleek figure. He slowly caressed every curve with his eyes and inspected every buckle on her black leather clothing. I didn’t blame him for looking, but I needed his attention.

  “Tell her what you told me about the creature,” I said.

  The man repeated himself, almost word for word. When he was done, Nadia was nodding.

  “I know the creature he speaks of,” she said. “It is called a doppelganger. They are ancient. My people encountered one of them when I was very young. I still remember the terror it brought to my mother’s face, though. Doppelgangers live in seclusion and only emerge from their underground lairs to hunt. They will eat anything with blood but prefer people above animals. They may be the only creature who does. People are not of a pleasant flavor.”