Kian placed a hand on Leo’s shoulder, “Try to remember Mia as the girl you first knew, not the one that has just passed.” He also explained that beating himself up over it would only achieve in alienating him from everybody else. “You may not realise it Leo, but there are people who care for you here. They are worried about you, and each time they try to help you push them away.”
With a realisation hitting home that Kian had described the current situation perfectly, Leo knew he needed accept what had happened. He did feel some satisfaction in helping Chad, and it was true that the lad had turned out much better than anybody expected him to do. As a matter of fact, the guild had been so pleased with him mentoring the lad, that they now planned to extend the entire practice to all new apprentices. As they wandered slowly back to the main guild building Leo turned to the Master at his side, “Who do you think the father was?” he asked. Kian shrugged, “I have no idea. I assume you and Mia…You know…”
Leo blushed, his cheeks reddening almost instantly, “No…I’ve never…I mean no we just kissed a few times,” he replied wishing he had not asked the question. Kian just smiled, deciding to change the subject to help avoid Leo any further embarrassment, suggesting he seek Daron out to make peace. Leo was not sure he was quite ready for that, but knew it would have to be something he did sooner rather than later, and that leaving it would only make matters worse.
Chapter 26.
Hexley Cross had seen the first large scale battle of the conflict between the Belarian forces and their Caldronian residents. Previously, those defending the town had scraped a victory, as reinforcements had arrived in the nick of time, swaying the outcome of the fight. The Belarians had underestimated the enemy that day, something they would not do again.
Oribe, King of Belaria, had decided to lead his forces himself. With so many newly trained sorcerers, the product of his own new guild system, he was confident of an outright victory this time. With the news that the neighbouring nations of Arandor and Farasavia had both agreed to remain neutral, any chance of having to fight on a second front was for now at least, gone.
Oribe had been smart enough to pre-empt the Caldronian’s plea to its neighbours, and had decided to get in first. The aging Queen of Arandor had been easily swayed not to assist her smaller neighbour. The woman was so mistrusting of anybody and everybody, Oribe included. However, his envoys had manged to infiltrate their way into her royal court enabling them to influence those who advised the queen.
Persuading the King of Farasavia to stay out of any fighting had been far more difficult. Only after Oribe had made certain concessions had the king shown his true colours. The man’s weakness was greed, and as soon as Oribe had offered him a small section of land in the north of Caldronia, containing several of the small nations mines, had the deal been struck. Obviously the lure of riches from the gold and silver ores found there were too good an opportunity to miss.
Of course what the king did not envisage was Oribe’s future intent. Once he and his forces had crushed the Caldronians, he would merely take the land back, and turn his attention to Farasavia. Despite being much larger than Caldronia, Oribe doubted Farasavia would be able to oppose his armies. Despite having a large populace, it’s lands were divided up. Although the king was ultimately the man in power, the Barons spent much of the time squabbling amongst themselves to pose any kind of coherent threat.
Belarian forces had remained in Caldronia since the defeat at Surmount, raiding the smaller villages and farmsteads. Although these groups were just a fragment of the army Oribe had sent to attack the enemy capital city, they had still achieved much. With their constant threat, the Caldronians had been forced to spread their forces very thinly to protect as much of the populace as possible. This ultimately now gave Oribe a chance to sweep across the land and brush aside the small numbers he was likely to encounter.
The only large contingent to cause him any problem would be Surmont, although he now had plans to try and draw the defenders out. His only slight concern being that his new band of sorcerers were raw and untested in real combat, despite their training having been intense and in methods not used by the opposing guild. Oribe did not care that certain practices had been banned because they were dangerous or had long terms effects on the users. If they achieved their goals why should he care what happened to them.
For now, he had a score to settle at Hexley Cross, a town near his own northern border that had defeated his earlier attacks. This time, he would strike hard and without warning, killing anybody or anything that stood in his way. With an arsenal of weird and wonderful surprises, a vast army of regular soldiers and his newly trained sorcerers, Oribe doubted anything could or would stand in his way.
Three months had passed since his defeat at Surmont, and although the loss had come as a shock it had not been without some success. Oribe now had his own guild, although very unlike the one Caldronia prided itself on. His establishment was built for one purpose, and that being the training of personnel for war.
The large army had barely crossed unopposed into Caldronia when Oribe spotted the first signs of destruction. A few burnt out and long deserted homes, probably the result of his initial forays into these lands earlier in the year. He afforded a smile as he noticed several simple graves marked by wooden crosses, a sight he hoped to emulate all over the country.
Hexley cross had settled back in to its daily routines, and although the presence of guild sorcerers, warriors and rangers were still very prominent, the people here now accepted them as the norm. The once small garrison had been upgraded to allow for a much larger fighting force, with the southern town being the main focal point for this part of the country. From here, daily patrols were sent out, mainly consisting of rangers from the guild, along with a few sorcerers just in case they encountered any trouble.
Over the past month only a handful of small incidents had been reported or discovered by the scouting patrols, and it looked for all intent and purposes that the fighting had died away. Many Caldronians now believed the war was likely to be over, and since the huge defeat inflicted on the Belarians at Surmont, the enemy no longer had the will nor the resources to continue the conflict.
The Caldronian patrol swiftly turned about as they spotted the large force heading across the Belarian border. Normally they might have engaged the enemy, but against such a large number they were left to turn tail and run, hoping they could give enough warning to the unsuspecting people of Hexley Cross.
Oribe was duly informed they had been spotted, but the Belarian King was not overly bothered, knowing that such a large army would inevitably be seen long before it had chance to strike. He did consider sending a small force to give chase, but realised doing so would just be folly. The enemy would already have a sizeable head-start, and would undoubtedly knew the area much better than any force Oribe could send.
Continuing slowly onward, the Belarians approached the first of their major targets. The church bells could be heard ringing as Hexley Cross came into view. Oribe knew if his forces faltered here, then they may as well just turn about and go home. With his numerical advantage in both regular soldiers and sorcerers, this would be a guide as to how any future battles may go. With his magicians having practised hard in techniques not used by the opposition, as well as possessing other weapons the enemy did not, he felt confident of victory.
Despite still being in possession of two score or more of the imps, produced from using magic and alchemy to change children of a certain age, Oribe had decided he would not be making any more. Reports from previous battles had been somewhat mixed as regards their usefulness. Their ability to conjure fire had proved handy in attacking weakly defended farmsteads and villages. However, against the skilful guild rangers they had merely been easy targets. As a result, Oribe had changed his mind as regards the capture of any children.
As there was a chance some of those youngsters might develop into sorcerers, although only a small one, he had instructed his guild
to work on methods of early detection. Henceforth, any child captured would be tested, those with any small amount of magical power would be taken back to Belaria for ‘conditioning’, whist those not, would either be used as slaves or have their life forces absorbed to fulfil his ever growing army of sorcerers’ needs.
Oribe took up a position several hundred yards off to one side, allowing his generals to dictate which of his forces went where. He may have been the king, but he was not so stubborn and foolhardy to deny they had the better knowledge in such matters. He watched on, as his regular soldiers took up positions first, whilst his precious sorcerers waited for their instructions.
The remaining imps stood nearby as they needed to be in contact with the sorcerers that had imbued the potions at the time of their changing. Despite ordering there was no need to make any more of the strange little creatures, that did not mean they should merely just throw away the ones they still had. The imps may have been easy targets for the Caldronian rangers, but Oribe was assured they would still find a use for them.
The Belarian king looked skyward to see several dark birds lift off from the town of Hexley Cross and head northwards. “They will be carrying the messages of our arrival Sire,” said the man sat atop of the horse next to his. “No matter,” Oribe replied keeping his eyes focused forward, “By the time the guild decides to act, this town will be ours,” he said confidently.
Oribe watched on as his archers launched the arrows specially devised to carry the small explosive charges on their tips. His General beside him explained they would not likely cause any significant damage, but they would have the desired effect of making the guild sorcerers atop the wall use their power. “We have filled the charges with small jagged steel pieces, their magicians will have no option but to shield or risk terrible casualties,” the man said as Oribe felt the excitement of battle.
The Belarian king smiled with self-satisfaction as he watched his men fire the first shots. Using standard infantry to form a shield wall to protect the archers, they fired in unison, sending forth a volley of arrows, keeping out of range of enemy magicians. The Caldronian rangers immediately returned fire, but the shield wall did its job, deflecting their arrows aside. The sorcerers atop the walls were immediately forced to throw up numerous shields as the exploding arrows rained down from above them. The magical barriers may have succeeded in stopping most, but some sailed a little higher and further, landing in the streets below.
Oribe knew that each arrow deflected aside by an enemy sorcerer was not as wasteful as it might appear. Each hit would require the magician to use a little more of his power, and so long as Oribe’s men kept up the rate of fire, the sorcerers would be forced to keep doing so. The Belarian king, still sat atop his horse, strained upwards as if it would give him a better view. With the exploding arrows launched by his archers still whistling through the air, he tried to spot the first enemy sorcerer to wane from the exhaustion.
To their credit, and much to his own disgust, the Caldronian sorcerers seemed to take far longer than he had envisaged. However, he clapped excitedly as his General beside him pointed to the first black robed figure being helped down out of sight from the wall. “Excellent,” Oribe said grinning, as the signal was given for his sorcerers to start moving.
The months of hard work and practice were already starting to show, as each part of his army knew where to go and what role they were to play. The archers continued with their attack as the sorcerers from his own guild advanced. Using their new shielding techniques, whereby they overlapped several barriers together, they walked forward covering two wagons and the men pushing them into place.
With each wagon containing barrels of the black exploding powder, the Caldronians probably knew what was coming their way. However, with their sorcerers preoccupied and the arrows from their rangers being deflected harmlessly aside, there was apparently little they could do as the wagons were moved and placed by the newly fixed gates of the town.
The Belarian sorcerers did not panic in retreating away, but stayed focused in their task and protected themselves and the others as they headed back towards the main force. The two wagons stood unattended as the signal was given for a single archer to fire a burning arrow their direction. With the Caldronian sorcerers still busied by the exploding arrows, the burning shaft thumped directly into the side of one of the barrels.
Oribe watched and waited for the inevitable explosion. His horse pulled suddenly to one side as the creature panicked from the deafening sound of the blast. Oribe struggled to keep the beast under control as even he had been shocked by the level of noise it had created. Clouds of dust and debris filled the air where once there was a wall, and with his ears ringing he turned to see the outcome.
Several minutes passed before his soldiers moved forward unopposed into the town. The breach in the wall was vast, as was the crater that had been caused by the explosion. Despite dozens of bodies clearly visible amongst the rubble, the fight was far from over as he watched two of his infantry taken down by a magician’s energy blast. His own sorcerers immediately reacted to the threat and quickly supported their regular counterparts.
Although Oribe wanted to move forward for a closer look and maybe even perhaps participate, his General tried persuading him to the contrary. The Belarian king nodded his acceptance understanding the man’s concerns, but decided what the heck and nudged his horse forward anyway. With the adrenaline pumping through his body, Oribe picked up the pace and headed for the gap in the wall.
The Caldronians were still making a fight of it as their remaining forces seemed to be congregating further up the main street. Even Oribe had to look away as he manoeuvred his horse skilfully between the rubble strewn about the ground. The twisted dismembered bodies of fallen Caldronian defenders were scattered amongst the stones and dust, killed by the massive explosion. Even the enemy sorcerers had succumbed to the blast as their black robed bodies could be seen amongst the other dead.
Although the two citizens of Hexley Cross wandering about the streets, dazed and confused as to what had happened, posed no threat, Oribe felt the need to play his part. With his two bodyguards struggling to keep up with him, he decided to have a little fun. Showing no mercy, he thrust out his hand sending out several blasts of energy striking the two Caldronians and sending both to the dusty ground to join their fallen comrades.
The remaining Caldronian guild members and the small garrison of the town held out admirably for several more minutes. The fight however was a very one-sided one, as the Belarians continued to pour into the town. Despite causing some casualties, it would never be enough to cause Oribe any great concern.
Oribe smiled with satisfaction as his General trotted up beside him with the news that Hexley Cross was his. “Many of the townsfolk are fleeing through the northern gate. Do you wish us to hunt them down Sire?”
Oribe thought for a moment, “No, just don’t let anymore escape,” he replied knowing his men had earned some rest. Chasing down non-combatants here, there and everywhere across unknown countryside would be a waste of time and effort. Moreover, having to round them all up and transport them back to Hexley Cross would just tire his men out further.
Oribe glanced up as the Caldronian flag was torn down and replaced with his own. This may have only been a small victory, and he was certain the fight ahead would be far more difficult, yet it was an important one. He now had a proper foothold and a base from which to spread out northwards. He would now take the chance to rest his men, before regrouping and making his next move and ultimate goal; the Caldronian capital of Surmont.
Thank you for reading.
Front cover used under licence from Shutterstock©
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The Rogue Sorcerer: The Caldronian Guild : Book 2 Page 21