Immediately, her men stopped firing, and the rain of arrows ceased falling. The hobgoblin saw Mehdium climb up onto the barrier and level his staff at the enemy. Blacknail watched wide-eyed as a wave of force once again appeared at the end of the mage’s staff, and then like a massive invisible snake, it shot hungrily forth. Within seconds, it would collide with the mercenary formation. Blacknail waited eagerly to see these new enemies get smacked violently aside like rats hit by a boot. Their fancy shields wouldn’t stop them from being blown up!
The mercenary formation finally stopped, and their shield wall suddenly parted. A tall, armored man stepped out from the front rank and raised a steel amulet on a chain.
“Fuck,” Saeter cursed unexpectedly from beside Blacknail.
The hobgoblin was then surprised further when his master hurriedly fitted an arrow to his bow and took a shot at the tall man. Herad had told them to cease fire, so why was his master ignoring that order?
As both the magical blast and the arrow raced toward him, purple light flared forth from the mercenary’s raised amulet. The air began to churn, and a vortex of light burst into being. It began sucking up everything in front of the mage. The air churned and whirled as dust and grime from the street was picked up and pulled into the amulet. Mahedium’s blast and Saeter’s arrow were also tugged aside and sucked into the unnatural vortex. There was a flash of purple light and then the other mage dropped his amulet, and the vortex disappeared. Mahedium’s spell had disappeared without a trace, and the enemy formation was completely unscathed.
“That’s not good-ss, even if it was sort of pretty,” Blacknail remarked nervously.
“No, it seems Mahedium has some competition, and this battle will be uncomfortably close,” Saeter replied darkly as he scowled at the figures below.
“At least that guy isn’t throwing any magic back at us,” Blacknail remarked hopefully. That hope didn’t last long. The enemy mage gestured, and one of the men behind him passed him a staff. It looked exactly like Mahedium’s own weapon. The enemy mage then leveled it at the barricade that blocked his company’s progress, and a familiar-looking ripple shot forth.
This new blast slammed into the wooden wall and smashed through it. Splinters and bits of wood filled the air as a large section of the barricade exploded noisily. Mahedium and several other bandits were thrown off the wall and disappeared as a loud crash roared across the street. A few seconds later, cries of alarm and pain filled the air. At least a few of the hobgoblin's tribesmen had been wounded, and a huge, easily traversable hole had been punched through Herad’s barricade. As Blacknail watched with wide eyes, the tall enemy mage stepped back into rank, and the mercenaries began to march inexorably forward again as wreckage rained down from above.
“Huh.” Blacknail grunted as he felt a sinking feeling in his gut. This wasn’t good…
Chapter 36
The thud and crunch of heavy boots on cobblestones filled the air as the large wedge of shield-bearing mercenaries pressed forward through the hail of arrows. The enemy soldiers were headed right toward the large, gaping hole their mage had created in the barrier that Herad had ordered built across the road.
“What do we do?” Blacknail asked his master frantically.
The roar of the barricade exploding had sent the hobgoblin’s heart into overdrive, and it was beating a hundred times per minute. The feeling was uncomfortable, and he twitched nervously as his every instinct urged him to run somewhere safer or to find somewhere dark to hide. Any place that hostile magic men were blowing up stuff was a bad place to be. The only thing stopping him from fleeing was a desire not to abandon his tribe, in case he couldn’t find them again later, and Saeter’s reassuring presence beside him.
“Keep shooting,” his master barked as he let loose an arrow at the nearest enemy soldier. The old scout had aimed low, so his arrow hit the man below the shield and sliced through the side of his leg. The mercenary didn’t look critically wounded, but he stumbled and cried out as he fell.
Blacknail did as he was told and sent another arrow at Saeter’s target. It hit the collapsed man in the center of his now exposed back, and the mercenary twitched and then slumped loosely onto the ground. He looked dead. Unfortunately, there were plenty more mercenaries left, and they had now almost reached the shattered wall. Saeter took another shot, and Blacknail was about to do the same, when the sound of a horn rang out from behind the barricade. The hobgoblin froze and turned to see what was going on.
“That’s the retreat signal,” Saeter exclaimed.
“Did we lose?” Blacknail asked. He hoped the answer was yes so they could all go back to the forest.
“No, this fight’s not over. Herad isn’t out of tricks yet. It’s just time to withdraw and reorganize,” his master answered. That sounded like it meant they were allowed to run away, so it was good enough for Blacknail.
“Time-ss to go then,” the hobgoblin replied as he hurriedly started down the stairs.
Saeter followed him, and when they reached street level, the last of Herad’s men were jumping off the back of the barricade. The long stretch of rigged-together pieces of wood stood empty as its builders hurried away and left it behind. The only people still near the wall were two small squads of bandits who seemed to be keeping watch over the gap in its expanse and the mercenary company that was quickly closing in on it. The rest of the bandits were running farther down the street, but they weren’t panicked or moving aimlessly. Orders were being shouted by lieutenants, and everyone was being organized into squads.
“Where’s Herad?” Saeter yelled at the nearest squad leader.
The man pointed back toward the abandoned barricade, so both the hobgoblin and his master turned to look. Blacknail didn’t see the chieftain, but now that he was looking closer, he did recognize three of the larger bandits. They were part of Herad’s personal guard.
“Shit, what now?” Saeter grumbled anxiously as he started running in that direction. Blacknail sighed in exasperation as he followed his master toward the most dangerous part of the battlefield. Because, of course.
Ahead of them, there was a loud clatter as the pile of rubble beside the hole in the barricade shifted, and two more of Herad’s bodyguards straightened up and rose into sight. They were both holding up the end of a heavy-looking panel of wood that had been lying atop the rubble. A second later, two other figures appeared between the guards. One of them was Herad, and as they watched, she pulled Mahedium up from off the ground. Once he was standing, if unsteadily, Herad wrapped an arm around the limping mage’s shoulder and began dragging him behind her.
“Here, let us take him. I’m sure you have better things to do,” Saeter offered as he ran over to help. Blacknail assumed he was also being volunteered.
“Damn right I do! Just don’t fall behind, old man. I need that mage in working condition,” Herad replied as she passed Mahedium off to him.
With her hands now free, the bandit chieftain raised her fingers to her lips and whistled sharply. Instantly, all her minions near the barricade began to fall back and join the others down the street. They didn’t seem to want to stick around, and Blacknail didn’t blame them. Bad things were coming. He could feel it in the tips of his ears. The hobgoblin moved over to help his master by supporting Mahedium’s other shoulder. The faster they got Mahedium moving, the more distance there would be between them and the enemy. The mage shook his head and blinked before turning toward Saeter.
“Thank you. Just give me a few moments and I think I can walk on my own. Nothing appears to be broken. I just had the wind knocked out of me,” Mahedium told them.
“And half a mountain of rubble dropped on you,” Saeter dryly replied.
“We should-ss probably walk faster,” the hobgoblin interjected nervously as he looked back over his shoulder.
Just as Blacknail finished speaking, the first group of mercenaries marched cautiously through the gap in the barricade behind them. The trio had almost reached the rest of He
rad’s men though. They were only a few dozen feet away from the closest thing to safety around.
“Good thing they aren’t in any rush to attack. You’re heavier than you look,” Saeter remarked.
“Yes, but what happens if the bad-ss mage decides to throw exploding magic at us right now?” Blacknail replied uneasily. This was apparently something that hadn’t occurred to Saeter yet, because he tensed up and gave the enemy behind them a nervous look.
“I don’t suppose if that mage there decides to blast us into human paste you could stop him?” Saeter remarked expectantly.
Mahedium coughed in reply. “Maybe.” He didn’t sound very confident.
“Bloody wonderful.” Saeter sighed.
“Hopefully they don’t recognize me as the mage from before, and all they see is some walking wounded. There’s no way they would waste any mana crystals on us then,” the mage explained.
Blacknail eyed him thoughtfully. That meant if the enemy did recognize Mahedium, they could be about to blast all three of them into little bits. He didn’t want to die that way, or any other way really.
“We should dump him. We can say he tripped,” Blacknail suggested quietly to his master as he covered the still somewhat stunned mage’s ears with his hands.
“Herad needs him, and besides, we’re already here,” Saeter answered dryly.
The hobgoblin stopped staring back at the enemy and looked ahead. Saeter was right; they had already reached the rest of Herad’s men. He gave his master an unabashed grin and uncovered Mahedium’s ears. Saeter and him let go of Mahedium, and the mage managed to stand by himself. Herad was watching from out of sight of the enemy at the back of a nearby squad, and she called the mage over. He seemed unsteady at first, but after a few seconds managed to start walking without their help.
“Thanks, you two, for your help,” he told them.
“No problem, you can pay me back-ss later. Now I’m just going to go stand over there and um… guard that very important barrel,” Blacknail replied wryly. He took a few steps away from the mage and cast another nervous glance back at the enemy.
Saeter smacked him across the back of the head.
“What? If we stay near him-ss then the other mage might set us on fire or turn us into little pieces,” Blacknail hissed quietly to his master.
“This is a battlefield. Nowhere is safe,” Saeter replied as he led them over to a small squad of men off to the side of the road.
During this time, the enemy hadn’t been idle. They weren’t attacking, but soldiers had continued to stream in through the gap in the barricade, and now almost half the mercenaries had taken up position on the same side of it as Herad’s men. The two sides glared at each other. On one side were over a dozen loose squads of bandits in mismatched gear, and on the other was a solid formation of uniformed soldiers that was slowly growing as more of them slipped through the wall. The expectant stillness was broken by Herad’s voice.
“Show these poor bastards what happens to my enemies, mage,” she yelled.
At her command, Mahedium stepped forward and once again leveled his staff. Instantly, a purple glow sprung into being above the enemy’s front rank as the enemy mage raised his defenses. However, Mahedium didn’t do as anyone expected. No shimmering air or invisible force appeared. Instead, a pillar of roaring flame burst from his staff and raced across the battlefield. However, the flames didn’t head for the enemy. Mahedium had purposely aimed several dozen feet to their left.
The column of raging fire slammed into the wooden barricade and hungrily consumed it. Within seconds, that section of the wall had been transformed into a roaring bonfire. Its flames reached as high as the nearby roofs, and it was still spreading and growing with incredible speed. The crackle and hiss of burning wood filled the air. Mahedium then unleashed another blast of flame at the barricade on the other side of the gap. The enemy combat mage was powerless to stop the second blast as well. Apparently, his purple magic wind sucker thing only worked on attacks headed toward himself.
Blacknail giggled happily to himself as a soothing wave of relief washed over him. So that was what the plan was! He liked it; it was a nice little trap. More traps should involve fire.
The mercenaries’ position was now less than optimal. They were stuck halfway through the barricade, and flames were rushing toward them from both sides. There was no way they could turn around and retreat quickly enough to avoid the flames completely. So the tall enemy mage did the only thing he could; he went on the offensive. He dropped his amulet, grabbed his staff, pointed it in Mahedium’s direction, and unleashed a blast of force. Immediately, there was a chorus of angry shouts as the mercenaries around the enemy mage started rushing forward at Herad’s men and away from the fire. Blacknail was happy to see that their formation wasn’t quite so neat anymore.
As the wave of magic raced toward Mahedium, he reached under his shirt and pulled out an amulet of his own. In imitation of his counterpart, he raised it. The crystal didn’t glow purple, and no whirling vortex appeared. Instead, a small, circular, transparent shield appeared in front of him and quickly expanded until it covered not only him but all the men around him.
The force blast smashed into it with a loud crashing sound that Blacknail felt in his teeth, and a wave of dusty wind blew outward from the impact site. In the middle of the blast zone stood a completely unharmed squad of bandits with Mahedium standing tall at their center.
Herad’s voice suddenly rang out. “Charge, and push them back into the flames!”
At her command, every bandit squad attacked. They flowed together as they raced toward the enemy. The mercenaries’ forward march faltered as their morale took a serious hit. Not only were they now cut off from reinforcements, but their mage seemed to have been bested, and their backs were up against the wall. Not to mention, the wall was on fire.
Both mobs of fighters were racing toward each other now, but they hadn’t met yet. Both mages used this time to quickly throw some attack spells back and forth. The mercenary mage sent a ball of kinetic energy into a squad of Herad’s men that were too far away from Mahedium for him to protect. It smashed into them and scattered them like leaves in the wind. In a split second, a dozen men had been blown off their feet, and several didn’t get back up. Mahedium took advantage of his opponent’s distraction and blasted the edge of the mercenaries’ formation with a wave of curling flame. Screams filled the air as men discarded burning shields or fell, smoking to the ground. The enemy mage cursed loudly and raised his staff to counterattack, only to take an arrow in the neck and keel over before he could do anything. It was only one of many arrows that began to rain down on Zelena’s hired soldiers as archers hidden on rooftops on both sides of the street opened fire. Herad had revelaed another of her hidden tricks.
Now the mercenaries really started to falter. The death of their mage clearly demoralized them, and their advance ground to a halt. Herad’s men didn’t stop their charge though, and battle was soon joined as the lead combatants from both sides crashed together. The still somewhat disciplined enemy shield wall was hit by the first rank of Herad’s men. A wave of bandits wielding swords, clubs, and spears began battering at the mercenaries and quickly started bending around the enemy formation. Herad was now the one with the numbers advantage.
The mercenaries were a tough nut to crack though. They were better equipped and more disciplined than their foe, and they were too close now for archers or magic to be used. Hand-to-hand combat would now decide who would be victorious. The clash of metal on metal, the thud of blades biting into wooden shields, and human cries of rage and pain filled the street. Behind it all was the crackling of wild flames as the wooden barricade burned.
Blacknail and Saeter kept to the back of their squad. Neither of them was too eager to enter the melee. The hobgoblin was only as close as he was so he could keep Saeter out of trouble. He kept an eye on the old scout as he darted around the edge of the fight and halfheartedly exchanged blows with the occa
sional opponent. It wasn’t really his job to fight on the front lines. That was what rookies were for.
Even with so many things set against them, the Leather Heels Company stood their ground. They kept their shields high and their blades swinging. Bandit after bandit fell before them, and it looked like they would manage to hold, but then Herad herself joined the fray. The bandit chieftain charged out from among her minions with her bodyguards at her side and slammed into the center of the enemy’s formation. Her silver blade flashed through the air and cut down two mercenaries as her hulking guards slammed themselves into soldiers. They were wearing heavier armor than most the other bandits and carrying heavy two-handed swords or pikes. Herad’s men rallied around her and drove into the gap she created. As she whirled into the enemy formation, more and more mercenaries fell, and their formation began to dissolve. The sound of Herad’s vicious laughter rang out as she batted a blade away and slashed its wielder across the face. She looked like she was having fun. A mercenary stabbed at her chest, but she sidestepped the blow and ended up with only a shallow cut across her ribs. Herad then stabbed low. Her blow cut her attacker’s leg just below his groin. He collapsed as blood poured from the wound.
Suddenly, there was a loud cry of despair, and the enemy’s resolve broke. Their formation dissolved into chaos, and Herad’s men started pushing them back, but there was nowhere for them to go. The roaring flames of the burning barricade blocked their escape. Step by step they were pressed backward until one of them stumbled and fell into the blaze. His screams rent the air as he caught fire, and he lunged forward in a futile attempt to escape the flames that now covered him. Of course, there was nowhere for him to go, so all he managed to do was throw himself on top of his startled comrades and spread the flames before one of them panicked and cut him down.
This distraction only served to weaken the mercenaries further, and soon another man was pushed into the flames, and then another. The smell of roasting human flesh wafted over the battlefield. Blacknail really wished he’d brought more to eat now; the scent was making his stomach gurgle with hunger.
City of Daggers (The Iron Teeth Book 2) Page 35