The General blinked. “Your Supremacy?”
“They’re casting spells that interfere with magical fields,” the Emperor said. He smiled, rubbing his hands together with glee. “A dragon is a hugely magical creature, General. They simply cannot exist without magic. However, we have magicians too. One of them should be able to shield the dragon from the spells that would otherwise destroy it.”
He leant back, holding his hands behind his back. “The battle is not yet over, General,” he added. “It has barely begun.”
Charity winced, inwardly. The Emperor was right. He didn’t care about losses; he only cared about winning and losing. The battle wasn’t over until he said it was over.
Keep fighting, she thought. She tried to think of another loophole she could exploit, but nothing came to mind. Don’t let him win!
***
“They’re forming up new lines,” Dread observed. “They’re definitely planning something.”
Elaine nodded in agreement. “How’s the Queen coping?”
“I had to … convince her not to put herself on the front line,” Dread said. “She was insistent on showing herself to her people, but if she happened to be killed … well, the defence line would fall apart.”
He shrugged. “Ida couldn’t really hope for a better leader in the times to come.”
Elaine allowed herself a smile. “Did she try to seduce you?”
Dread gave her a hard look. “Does it matter?”
“You’re not an Inquisitor any longer,” Elaine said, after a moment. Dread’s stern gaze was still unnerving, even though he no longer had any magic. “And she does need a strong right arm.”
“I haven’t looked beyond the war,” Dread said, quietly. “If I die today, or before the Witch-King is defeated, it won’t matter what hopes and dreams I might have had. Afterwards … I may look around for other options.”
“Marry her,” Elaine urged.
Johan looked from one to the other, shaking his head. “There’s an enemy force on the other side of the walls and you two are talking about romance?”
“Better to have something to distract yourself,” Dread said, bluntly. “Battles like this are rare – or were, I should say. They used to be long hours of boredom and fear, broken only by moments of screaming terror.”
“Oh,” Johan said. He looked down at the stone ground. “I think you should marry her.”
Dread sighed. “You do realise there’s a good chance I won’t survive?”
Elaine gave him a long look. Everything that gave Dread’s life meaning – the Grand Sorcerer, the Empire, the Inquisition, his magic – was gone. He’d dedicated himself to service long before Elaine was born …
… And now he couldn’t serve anyone.
“Don’t seek your own death,” she said, firmly. “I want you to live.”
“I was seriously tempted to put you in jail,” Dread said. Elaine remembered how they’d first met and coloured. She’d lied to his face, a criminal offence. “Are you sure?”
“You did your duty,” Elaine said. She reached out and gave him a hug. “We’d be dead already if it wasn’t for you.”
“I know,” Dread said. He hadn’t returned her hug. She wasn’t surprised. The thought of Dread showing any real affection was hard to comprehend. “But there will be time to decide what to do afterwards once we win.”
“Yeah,” Johan said. “I …”
“Quiet,” Elaine hissed. Something was pricking at the edge of her mind. A sense of magic; too far away to be pinpointed, too close to be ignored. It should have been impossible. Even the Watchtower or the Imperial Palace hadn’t been noticeable at long range. “I …”
She sucked in her breath, feeling a surge of horror. “They’re working a ritual,” she snapped, bracing herself frantically. She’d never felt anything like the sensation, but it couldn’t be anything else. “They’re about to attack!”
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Now,” the Emperor ordered.
Charity braced herself as the sorcerer’s chanting grew louder, slowly reaching a crescendo as magic flared around his form. His robe caught fire as blue light flashed over his hands, dancing through the runes he’d drawn on the ground and gliding rapidly towards Ida. He let out a scream as the flames grew hotter, but held himself together. Charity couldn’t help being impressed at his determination, even though she knew it spelt the end of the battle. He’d die, but his death would tip the scales in the Emperor’s favour.
“Let Ida fall,” the Emperor said, as the magic picked up speed. The ground started to shake violently. “Let them all die.”
***
“Get the counterspells up,” Elaine ordered, running towards the two elderly women. “Hurry!”
“The spells are in place, dear,” one of the women said. She sounded calm, even though there was a very good chance she and her partner were about to die. “We’re ready.”
Elaine nodded, then turned to look as a wave of blue light raced towards Ida. The magic was so strong that she wouldn’t have been surprised if the mundanes could sense it, even though a baseline sensitivity to magic was the first requirement for actually being a magician. It looked irresistible, although she knew better. The structures taking place within the light could be broken easily, given the right impetus.
“Now,” she ordered.
The elderly women joined hands, then started to mutter a spell in unison. They couldn’t hope to match the blue wave of power, but they didn’t have to. All they really had to do was disrupt it, ensuring that the Emperor’s servant couldn’t keep it under control. Elaine braced herself as their magic reached past her and lanced into the blue light, causing wave after wave of feedback. She ducked down low as blue light exploded, then flickered out of existence.
“By all the gods,” Johan breathed.
Elaine rose to her feet and peered over the battlements. The snow was gone. So were the advancing forces, simply blinked out of existence. The road looked badly damaged; the craggy cliff face below the walls looked … smoother, somehow. What had the Emperor’s men been trying to do? Level the walls? Bring Ida down to ground level? Or simply trigger an earthquake that would devastate the city?
She turned back to the two magicians and winced. They were dead, their hands still interlinked and identical smiles on their faces. She cursed herself under her breath – she could at least have watched them die for their kingdom – and then closed their eyes, as gently as she could. They’d died because of her, but at least their deaths had not been in vain.
“I’ll see they get a proper burial,” Colonel Tarpon said. “My Lady, it will not be long until they resume the offensive.”
“We will be ready,” Sarah said, coming up behind him. “Did they stop the spell?”
“I think so,” Elaine said. She didn’t really doubt it, but how much stored magic did the Emperor have? He’d rounded up every magician he could get his hands on and drained their power for his spells. “But the Emperor isn’t out of tricks.”
“Neither are we,” Johan assured her.
“We only have one other joined pair,” Elaine said. The elderly women had volunteered to go first, pointing out that they’d had long and happy lives. It didn’t make her feel any less guilty for sending them to their deaths. “I don’t know how many magicians he has who are willing to give their lives for him.”
***
Everything went wrong with terrifying speed. The chanting stopped, a half-second before the magician threw up his arms and screamed, his body catching fire and burning to ash. Charity had only moments to realise that something was wrong before the blue light recoiled, lancing back towards the camp like a hunting flame. The Emperor bit off a stunned oath, then threw himself to the ground as the blue light exploded; Charity followed, feeling her head spin as the magic flashed over her. For a moment, she honestly believed someone had kicked her in the head. She’d always been sensitive to magic, but this was something far outside her experience.
/> “They did something to the spell,” the Emperor snarled. “Get up!”
Charity obeyed, helplessly. A dozen red-robed magicians were lying on the ground, clutching their heads, while even the Inquisitors looked stunned. The magical blowback must not have been strong enough to change them – she glanced down at her body to make sure nothing had changed without her knowledge – but it had definitely been enough to hurt every magician within range. In the distance, the dragons were roaring in pain, breathing long plumes of fire into the sky. They’d have sensed the blast too.
They did it, she thought. She couldn’t imagine what could have stopped the ritual in its tracks – a greater ritual, perhaps – but it hardly mattered. All that mattered was that the ritual had been stopped and the magic of countless magicians had been wasted. The Emperor would not be pleased, but she found it hard to care. They saved their kingdom!
“Your Supremacy,” General Vetch said. “The troops are in some disarray.”
The Emperor glared at him. “Assemble the main regiments for an assault,” he ordered, sharply. “We’ll use the vines.”
Charity kept her face impassive. The spell’s backlash had melted the snow and damaged the road. It had only succeeded in making it harder for the troops to get to Ida, let alone scramble over the walls. The dragons were the Emperor’s trump card and they’d been beaten, unless he was right about his magicians being able to deal with the counterspells and keep the dragons in the air.
“The dragons will provide cover,” the Emperor added, after a moment. “The magicians will shield them.”
“The magicians are in pain,” the General warned. “Your Supremacy …”
“We cannot lose this battle,” the Emperor hissed. “Assemble the troops!”
Charity watched with bated breath. General Vetch was from the same homeland as the Emperor. He could remove a failed leader, if he had the nerve … but did he have the magic he’d need to break through the Emperor’s protections? If he’d taken Jamal’s knife … Charity briefly considered trying to give it to him, but she knew her oaths wouldn’t let her. She couldn’t kill her master or assist anyone else to kill him.
“Yes, Your Supremacy,” General Vetch said, finally.
He bowed, then headed off to the camp.
***
“They’re forming up again,” Dread said, lying on the battlements and peering towards World’s Gate with a telescope. “I don’t think the Emperor has given up.”
“He can’t give up,” Elaine said. She sat next to Johan, taking what time she could to gather herself before the next attack. “It would cost him everything.”
“He could lose his army storming Ida,” Dread pointed out. “The dragons were unstoppable until now. He might no longer be Emperor when this is finished, but just another warlord.”
“Assuming the spells get out,” Elaine said. One of the Queen’s magicians – a mountaineer – had insisted on slipping out of the kingdom, heading down to the nearest friendly town. He’d make sure that knowledge of the spells spread widely, ensuring that dragons would no longer be able to run riot through the Empire. “He’s still got plenty of advantages.”
“He’s also being an idiot,” Dread observed. He was still peering through his telescope, his eyes narrowing as he took in the sight. “They’re going to lose hundreds of men just reaching the walls.”
Elaine pulled herself to her feet and walked over to the battlements. “The dragons are coming back,” she noted. “They must have prepared counterspells for the counterspells.”
Johan gave her a mischievous look. “Can you write counterspells for the counterspells for the counterspells?”
“Shut up,” Elaine said, without heat. “I’m not sure what they’re going to do …”
She closed her eyes, thinking hard. How would she do it? The counterspells would have to blend into the magical field surrounding the dragon or it would run the risk of accidentally knocking the dragon out of the air anyway. She doubted the Emperor would reward a sorcerer who scored an own goal. But the dragons were surrounded by chaotic waves of magic, ensuring that the spells would have to be carefully watched by a magician capable of adjusting them at a moment’s notice.
“Hit them several times,” she said, finally. “It might work.”
“Try and devise something better than might,” Dread ordered. He cursed under his breath as the dragons closed in, howling their fury to the skies. “Here they come.”
Elaine ducked down as the dragons flashed overhead, breathing flames down on the city. Most of the counterspells worked, but not enough to keep them from bathing parts of the wall in lethal fire. She snapped off a spell at one of the dragons, only to see it flash out of existence as the sorcerer on top countered it. They were risking their lives pushing their magic so far from themselves, she noted absently, but they didn’t have much choice. Losing the dragon would mean a long fall and a very hard landing.
“Tell the archers to aim at the riders,” she shouted, as she sent off another spell. This time, the dragon flipped over and crashed into a stone building, shattering it to rubble. The dragon survived long enough to breathe flame into the next building – Elaine saw tongues of flame blasting out of every door and window – before the spell completed its work and the dragon died. “They’re not capable of protecting themselves.”
Another dragon swooped overhead, breathing fire. Johan grabbed her, his power surrounding them both as flames billowed over the walls. She looked around as the beast headed onwards, trying to see Dread; she thought, for a horrified moment, that he was dead before he emerged from a stone nook, coughing frantically. The walls around them were scorched and pitted; the dragon turned, clearly ready for another run, just as a spread of arrows slammed into its hide. Most of them shattered uselessly, but one struck the rider and sent him falling to his death. The dragon died moments later as Sarah scored a direct hit with her spell.
“Climbers,” Tarpon shouted, as the last dragons retreated. “Man the walls!”
Elaine turned, just in time to see a green shoot rise up over the battlements. It was so out of place that she found it hard to comprehend what it was, before memories rose up from the back of her mind. Climbing vines had been used as siege weapons during the necromantic wars, growing so rapidly that infantrymen could scramble up the green branches while the roots dug under the walls, weakening them until the point they collapsed. She’d never thought that Deferens might use them, but if he’d brought back the dragons …
She shook her head as the first soldier appeared on the edge of the walls. The dragons were a major accomplishment, even if they’d cost hundreds of lives apiece. Compared to them, the climbing vines were nothing more than magically-altered plants. It wouldn’t be hard for a twelve-year-old, a new student at the Peerless School, to make them, assuming they could find the right ingredients. Hell, for all she knew, Deferens had set schoolchildren to making weapons of war.
Dread lunged forward, raising his staff. The soldier had no time to react before Dread slammed the iron tip into his crotch, sending him doubling over in pain. Elaine sensed a flicker of sympathy from Johan as the soldier screamed, just before Dread slammed his staff into his head. It had probably been a mercy, part of her mind noted, as several more soldiers appeared on the walls. They were followed by an entire line of man-sized insects that had been turned into weapons of war.
“Get back,” Dread shouted, as soldiers rushed to repel the incursion. “Let us handle it.”
“Let me help,” Johan hissed, as Elaine stumbled backwards. “I can take them down …”
“Not now,” Elaine said. She had an idea, but they’d need to get into a better location before they tried it. “Let the soldiers handle the invaders.”
She pointed her wand at a pair of enemy soldiers and used a light spell to send them falling back out of the battlements and out of sight, then led the way down to the ladders into the city. Flames were rising up from a dozen places, marking spots where the dragons ha
d found something flammable; hundreds of grey stone buildings were scorched and pitted, their inhabitants desperately trying to use buckets of water to quell the fires consuming the remains of their belongings. The castle had been scorched badly, but seemed to have survived intact.
They sent the children there to keep them safe, she thought, as she hurried towards one of the watchtowers. If the dragons managed to breathe fire into the castle, they might have burnt up the oxygen.
She pushed the thought aside – there was nothing she could do about it – and slipped into the watchtower. A pair of women wearing leather armour and carrying swords blocked her path, then stepped aside when she held up the medallion the Queen had given her. Elaine had to smile – she’d never heard of women fighting as common soldiers until she’d returned to Ida – and then ran up the stairs. The watchtower was carefully placed to allow the occupants to stare down at the road leading up to the kingdom. She cast a protective ward, then started to try to make sense of the battle.
“They’re coming faster now,” Johan said.
Elaine followed his gaze. It was hard to separate the common soldiers, to work out who was on what side, but the officers were easy to recognise. The Emperor’s officers wore red cloaks and carried the battle standards of the Empire, while Ida’s men wore green and carried no standards. Behind the infantry, there were a handful of crawling monsters: giant caterpillars, oversized spiders and deadly ants. The Emperor clearly hadn’t stopped at dragons when he’d started uncorking the deadly threats of the past. She felt a shiver running down her spine as she saw one of the spiders climbing over the walls, then sighed in relief as Brian hit it with a spell. It collapsed instantly as its magical field vanished.
They’re too large to live without magic, she thought. Just like the dragons.
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