Army of the Dead fl-8

by Richard S. Tuttle

  “Our reward is in serving Him,” replied Lyra. “You do not understand. None of us will object to the sacrifice. We will all go willingly. Kaltara knows this. It is not my life that I will miss; I will miss the life with Marak that is never to be.”

  “Where do I go to protest the deeds of Kaltara?” grumbled Temiker. “I cannot conceive of such treatment for the Three. I will not let it happen.”

  “Don’t be silly,” smiled Lyra. “You cannot dictate terms to God.”

  Lyra didn’t notice right away, but she had lost Temiker’s attention. The old mage had turned towards the waterfront and was sniffing the air. Lyra frowned at his sudden lack of attention.

  “Have you been listening to me?” asked the Star of Sakova.

  “Smell the air, Lyra,” urged the old mage. “This fog that is creeping in is unnatural.”

  Lyra raised her nose and inhaled deeply. Deep furrows etched her flawless brow.

  “It is the Motangans,” she said softly. “The boy Kenda from Duran spoke of an eerie morning fog before the city was attacked. The enemy is offshore and getting ready to unleash their evil. The Time of Cleansing has arrived.”

  “We must rouse the city,” Temiker declared urgently. “I will gather the mages; you wake the soldiers. Tell everyone to remain quiet. We must not let the Motangans know that we are awake.”

  Lyra nodded and ran off. Temiker entered the schoolhouse and started waking the mages. Within an hour the entire city was awake and quietly moving to their stations. By that time the sky was beginning to lighten, but the unnatural fog persisted.

  Lyra stood on the roof of the Imperial Guard headquarters. LifeTender stood at her right hand and ValleyBreeze her left. The Star of Sakova gazed to her right where General Manitow stood with his advisors and a small group of mages who could cast the air tunnel spell. She waited patiently for the general to signal that his troops were ready.

  “We are set,” General Manitow declared. “Show us the enemy.”

  Lyra nodded to the two mages beside her who immediately gave a signal to the other mages lining the waterfront. Hundreds of mages simultaneously cast the same spell, and the wind started to flow eastward. Within moments the wind was roaring out to sea and carrying the unnatural fog with it. Gasps echoed all over the city as the Motangan armada was revealed. The ships had been sitting quietly offshore, their sails slack from the lack of wind. The Sakovans stared out at two hundred monstrous vessels sitting offshore.

  The Motangans had been in the process of preparing for their attack, and the sudden disappearance of the fog caused chaos within the fleet. Some catapults were immediately launched, sending huge balls of fire flying towards the city, but the wind had already hit the Motangan sails. The leviathans bounced every which way as the wind drove the ships backwards, causing most of the catapults to miss their targets.

  Scores of Sakovan catapults immediately fired at the ships, some of them fired haphazardly, while others fired late because their operators took time to aim them. Those that were aimed fell short of their targets as the Motangan ships were blown away from the coast. The Time of Cleansing began with total chaos.

  The captains of the Motangan ships recovered quickly, turning their bows out of the wind and retreating a safe distance from the city. The Sakovan catapults fell silent as everyone waited to see what would happen next. Lyra instructed the mages to rest and the wind died down. For a long time, both sides stood staring at each other. Eventually, the sun broke the horizon and the winds picked up. With the breeze blowing towards the shore, a dozen Motangan ships broke from the armada and headed south. Another dozen proceeded north.

  “Send General Addley’s army to the south of the city,” General Manitow instructed his mages. “Notify General Romero to head north. Inform each of them that approximately twelve thousand enemy troops will be put ashore in their sector in an attempt to flank the city.”

  The rest of the Motangan ships jockeyed for position as the armada reformed into four distinct groupings. Four long lines of ships, running north to south, faced the city. The first row of ships raised full sails and started moving closer to shore, while the other three rows sat motionless. The Sakovans tensed as they waited for the signals to respond to the new threat.

  “There are so many of them,” Lyra sighed. “Give the signal to the mages.”

  LifeTender and ValleyBreeze sent the messages to the mages using air tunnels. The mages had to work harder the second time to overcome the natural onshore breeze. The wind slowly died as the mages’ spells reversed the airflow. Soon a slow offshore wind began and started building in strength.

  The Motangan ships fired their catapults at the beach where the mages were lined up, while the Sakovan catapults aimed for the stern of the ships to account for movement from the mage-created breeze. Huge balls of fire soared towards the beach, and groups of Sakovan mages scattered. The wind faltered a bit, but the mages who fled immediately rejoined the line in a different place. Several Sakovan catapults scored direct hits on some of the ships. Motangans raced around in an attempt to extinguish the blazes.

  Another round of catapults fired from the ships. The behemoths immediately turned out of the wind after firing and tried to dodge the second round of catapults from the Sakovans. One ship was hit with two loads of burning material and its sails went up in flames. It drifted freely as the crew tried to put the fires out. Even as the first row was retreating, the second row of Motangans ships started heading for the city.

  “How long can your mages keep up the wind?” asked General Manitow.

  “Not indefinitely,” Lyra replied. “It takes a great deal of power to fight nature. The winds are against us.”

  “They are aiming their catapults at the mages,” the general declared, “not my catapults. They are not afraid to lose ships this close to shore. Can you move your mages back?”

  “Tell them to drop the wind,” Lyra ordered the mages next to her. “When they start it up again, they are to slowly back up so their position keeps changing.”

  LifeTender and ValleyBreeze relayed the information to the mages. When the second row of ships got within range, Lyra gave the order to summon the wind. Moments later, lightning flashed in the clear sky. The lightning bolts slammed into the beach where the mages had just moved back from. Lyra gasped in horror as the lightning bolts blew up huge clouds of sand.

  “Tell them to shield themselves,” Lyra said to her mages. “Every other mage is to shield himself and his partner.”

  “That will cut the wind in half,” warned ValleyBreeze.

  “Do it!” shouted Lyra. “They can not keep up the wind for long anyway. I will not sacrifice our mages at this stage of the battle.”

  “A wise call,” commented General Manitow as he pointed out to sea. “They are lowering small boats and have dropped their sails.”

  “Dropped their sails?” echoed Lyra. “They will be easy targets for our catapults.”

  “I know,” nodded the general, “and so do they. They are sacrificing the ships to get their men ashore. Use your mages for other tasks. The battle has changed.”

  Lyra ordered the mages to retreat as she watched balls of fire impacting on the Motangan ships. Hundreds of small boats dotted the water as the Motangan ships used their catapults to bombard the city. Sakovan archers raced to the waterfront, dodging missiles that were slamming into the buildings of the city. Lyra looked out at the first row of ships and saw that every one of them was burning to one degree or another. The Sakovan catapults were firing as fast as they could be reloaded, and the Motangan behemoths were taking a beating, but hundreds of small boats kept rowing towards the shore.

  “Tell the mages to concentrate on the small boats,” instructed Lyra. “Fireballs are preferred at this point.”

  “Third wave coming in,” warned General Manitow.

  Lyra looked out to sea and saw a new wave of leviathans dodging the burning and sinking hulks of the second wave. The smoke rising into the air from the bur
ning buildings and the burning ships was growing thick. She saw her mages aiming fireballs at the small boats with qualified success. Some of the small boats were capsized and a few were burning, but there were far too many of them to hit them all.

  As the small boats got closer to shore, the Sakovan archers opened fire. Thousands of arrows flew into the sea and rained down on the small boats. Suddenly, Motangan mages started throwing fireballs of their own from the small boats.

  “Third wave is lowering their small boats,” announced General Manitow.

  The catapults of the third wave were aimed at the Sakovan catapults. The behemoths fired as quickly as they could reload even as the small boats were being lowered and filled with soldiers.

  “Their aim is excellent,” scowled General Manitow. “We are losing our catapults quickly. Our archers cannot keep up either. There are just too many of them, and they are being driven by a leader who is not concerned with losses.”

  “Are you saying that Alamar is lost?” asked Lyra.

  “Not yet,” General Manitow shook his head, “but I doubt that we can last the day. The Motangans will lose thousands of men trying to get ashore, but they will succeed.”

  Lyra looked at the harbor and saw bodies floating everywhere. Some of the small boats were piling dead shipmates on the bow of their boats to hide behind, while others were throwing the dead overboard. All of the second wave ships had sunk, and many of the third waves ships were burning, but the Sakovan catapults had gone silent. The Motangan catapults were now targeting the city buildings. Sections of Alamar were aflame, and soldiers raced around trying to put out the fires. Temiker appeared alongside Lyra and shook his head.

  “It is time for you to start making preparations to flee the city,” Temiker said softly. “There is little you can do here. Alamar is finished.”

  “It’s too quick,” Lyra shook her head. “There are too many of them. I thought we could hold out for a few days at least.”

  “Their commander is clever,” shrugged Temiker. “He found a way to overcome every obstacle. The Sakovans may hold onto Alamar for another day, but no longer. There is no need for you to be here, though.”

  “His advice is sound, Lyra,” interjected General Manitow. “There is a lot of fighting left before the Motangans take Alamar, but it is foolish to endanger you. We will make them pay with a high body count. You can trust me to accomplish that.”

  “I will leave,” Lyra agreed, “but not until the Motangans land. LifeTender. ValleyBreeze. Come with me.”

  Lyra moved swiftly off the roof of the building. LifeTender and ValleyBreeze followed her closely, and Temiker panted to keep up. The Star of Sakova made her way down to the waterfront. Over a thousand archers peppered the Motangan small boats and hundreds of mages threw fireballs. The Motangan catapults aimed for the archers and the mages, leaving the entire waterfront area in ruins.

  Lyra halted near her group of mages. Her eyes slowly scanned the seas until she found a Motangan mage in one of the small boats. She raised her arm and pointed at him. A blast of power shot from her fist. It soared over the waves and hit the mage squarely. The mage was blown from the boat, a fist sized hole punched clear through his body.

  “Aim for their mages,” shouted Lyra. “Let the archers concentrate on the soldiers.”

  Lyra’s eyes sought out another black cloak and blew him away. The rest of the Sakovan mages also concentrated on the black cloaks. Within minutes there were no fireballs coming from the small boats of the second wave.

  “You have such power,” Temiker remarked with awe. “Try that force bolt on one of the small boats.”

  Lyra nodded and aimed for the nearest small boat. Her bolt ripped through the bow of the small boat and the soldier behind it. The boat immediately began sinking and the soldiers abandoned it. Lyra targeted another small boat, but she aimed along the side of it. Her force bolt tore the side off the boat, immediately capsizing it.

  “You are just trying to delay your departure from Alamar,” chuckled Temiker. “Keep that up and none of the Motangans will reach the shore.”

  Fireballs erupted from the small boats of the third wave. They were all aimed at Lyra. LifeTender and ValleyBreeze had erected shields around Lyra, Temiker and themselves. The shields glowed brightly as a dozen fireballs impacted them.

  “On second thought,” frowned Temiker, “taking out their mages is a better idea.”

  Lyra nodded as she shifted her concentration to the small boats of the third wave. Temiker joined in as they targeted the black cloaks. The catapults from the Motangan ships suddenly started striking the area around Lyra. Temiker knew that the magical shields around Lyra would not protect her from the catapults. He grabbed her and dragged her back.

  “Now,” Temiker said forcefully, “it is time for you to leave.”

  A catapult load splattered on the beach not twenty paces away. Flaming debris peppered the mages, who screamed and leaped back. Lyra sighed heavily and nodded.

  “Organize the mages,” she said to LifeTender and ValleyBreeze. “Continue attacking the Motangan mages if you can do so safely. Have them fall back when it is no longer safe to be where they are. I do not want to trade mages with the Motangans. That means preserving our mages is the priority. We will need them for the rest of this war.”

  Chapter 5

  Retreat

  Xavo exited the temple in Vandamar and hurried to the jungle path leading to the beach. He and Lady Mystic had magically carved out a clearing in the jungle a short distance from the beach. It was a hidden place where they could meet and talk without being observed in public. The Disciple of Vand smiled as he entered the clearing and saw Lady Mystic sitting with her back to a tree.

  “That must have been a rather short session,” Lady Mystic remarked. “I did not expect you for an hour or so.”

  “Secrecy is utmost at the present time,” shrugged Xavo. “Clarvoy was wounded in Fakara, and Vand has become more paranoid, if that is possible. I was politely excused from the rest of the session.”

  “Excused?” echoed Lady Mystic. “That is highly irregular. I wonder if Vand suspects you?”

  “I have no reason to believe that,” replied Xavo. “All disciples were excused. I was not singled out.”

  “Hmm,” pondered Vand’s daughter. “Who was allowed to remain?”

  “Only Clarvoy and the premers,” answered Xavo. “I assume that they will be discussing strategy for the invasion.”

  “And the timing of it,” nodded Lady Mystic. “It is curious that Clarvoy is involved. That indicates to me that they are concerned about the defenses on the mainland. I wonder if Premer Doralin has run into trouble.”

  “He has,” nodded Xavo as he sat down next to Lady Mystic. “His fleet was attacked at sea, and his losses were heavy. Right now the battle for Alamar is ongoing, but victory is assured. Vand was not entirely happy with the report, not only because of the losses, but because the report came from one of Clarvoy’s spies within Doralin’s mage group.”

  “So Doralin has not reported in yet,” mused Lady Mystic. “That means that there is little positive news to report. I did not think that the Sakovans even had a navy.”

  “They don’t,” frowned Xavo. “I can make no sense out of any attack at sea that could result in heavy losses. The report did not specify anything about the enemy fleet. In fact, the spy did not complete his report. The air tunnel was dropped unexpectedly. Clarvoy believes that the mage was killed before he could finish.”

  “Clarvoy has been to Alamar,” noted Lady Mystic. “He could send an air tunnel of his own to get a report.”

  “Not without a large chance of having the air tunnel grabbed by a Sakovan,” Xavo pointed out. “Clarvoy has no idea of how far into the city Doralin’s troops are, and they still only know how to cast one type of air tunnel. Any reply he got back would be suspect. No, he has to wait for someone there to report in.”

  “Without the air tunnels that I gave to Vand,” frowned Lady Mysti
c, “Vand’s armies would be fighting blind. I do not know how you could forgive me for that foolish move.”

  “That is history,” smiled Xavo. “We cannot change the past. The important thing is that we are working together now.”

  “That we are,” smiled Lady Mystic as she rose, “and it is time for me to do my part.”

  “What are you going to do?” Xavo asked apprehensively.

  “Try to squeeze information out of the premers when they leave the temple,” grinned Lady Mystic.

  “You are an outcast,” frowned Xavo. “They will not talk to you.”

  “We shall see,” smiled Lady Mystic. “Vand’s moods swing wildly. Those who are out of favor one day may be back in favor the next. As long as I am still alive, people will not shun me completely. You go ahead and report what you know. I will be back as soon as I discover something worthwhile.”

  Lady Mystic left the clearing and walked the streets of the city until she had a view of the front of the temple. She leaned against a building and watched the citizens passing by, as if she were just whiling away the morning. It was over an hour before two premers left the temple. Premer Cardijja, who was based in Eldamar, and Premer Shamal, who was based in Sudamar, walked down the steps together. Tzargo, the premer based in Vandamar was not present, and Lady Mystic figured that he had remained in the temple.

  The two premers walked together, chatting amicably, as they headed for the city docks. Lady Mystic knew that they probably had ships waiting for them to take them to their home cities. She allowed the men to pass her and then she walked behind them at a faster pace than they were walking. She caught up to them quickly.

  “Premer Cardijja,” greeted Lady Mystic. “It has been a long time since you were in Vandamar.”

  The two men halted and turned to face Vand’s daughter.

  “And Premer Shamal as well,” smiled Lady Mystic. “Good morning. You must have been in to see my father. Did he give you another award, or did he slap your wrists?”