Magician In Exile (Power of Poses Book 2)

by Guy Antibes

  “Send a couple of magicians and myself to rescue her. We will disable the enemy magicians like we’ve done in the past and grab Nullia. They know how to bring down the flyers with a spell.”

  “That’s even worse news. Takes away our advantage.” He put his hand to his ruddy just-shaven face. “Go ahead. I’ll send a unit along with you, but I can’t risk any magicians, you understand.”

  Valanna nodded. “Sanda Pillora and Lieutenant Navino and a few scouts.”

  Mirona called outside the tent and scribbled an order on a sheet of paper. “Take this and leave as soon as you are able,” he said. “I can’t hold up the battle for much longer. Were you up long enough to get any kind of intelligence that can help?”

  Valanna struggled to clear her mind of Nullia’s plight while the Colonel brought out a crude map of the battlefield. She closed her eyes to remember what she saw, and then opened them.

  “They are deployed in the forest, but the forest is not very deep and they only stick out to here.” She drew her finger along where she remembered the back of the camp to be. “I don’t remember seeing any other camps further out. The magicians must have all camped in the forest, because they came out of it in a group.” She furiously racked her brain for another moment. “No cavalry, unless hidden under the trees. Everyone in the back was an irregular soldier.” She wrung her hands. “If the density of soldiers in the open is the same as under the forest, they don’t quite match the force we have. I said that before, didn’t I?”

  Mirona gave her a rueful smile. “You did, but not with this extra detail. When you rescue Nullia, let the scouts roam in the woods a bit before they return. If they can bring down your flyer, then don’t take it.”

  Valanna nodded her head. “I was going to. I guess I’m not thinking clearly.”

  “Clearly enough. You’ve become quite a plucky woman, Valanna Almond. Bring Nullia back and all those that go with you.”

  “I will, sir.” Valanna saluted.

  He stood and saluted back. “Good luck, soldier.”

  She didn’t know what to make of that as she quickly left the tent in search of Sandy.

  ~

  Valanna remembered a creek that had bit deeply into the earth creating a waist-high ditch of sorts that ran from the camp to the forest. Her group splashed along the bottom, crouching as they approached the woods. The creek veered away from their direction, so they climbed up the bank and rushed to the forest’s edge.

  After running through the spells that she knew, Valanna assumed a pose and spoke a power word. Tendrils of mist began to rise from the ground, creating a fog through which she paused and posed as they proceeded through the trees.

  Scouts ran ahead of them, taking care of rebel watchmen as they rushed through the underbrush. A scout, barely visible in the fog, motioned them down. Valanna felt Sandy’s big hand on her shoulder, pushing her behind a bush. Brambles tore at her hands.

  “Do you have a weapon of any kind?” Sandy said.

  Valanna nodded. “I have a long knife strapped to my calf.”

  “Get ready to use it.”

  She didn’t know if she could actually cut another person’s flesh with the blade. She had bought it to boost her confidence, but his words brought into focus the peril she had put these people in, as well as herself. Valanna thought of Trak and wondered how he would react in this same situation? Her last view of him had been his using his own sword as a wand. He projected such power. Could she do the same? Nullia talked of pulses.

  Her hand lifted up her skirt and wrapped around the knife’s hilt. She withdrew it and clutched it in the misty light, staring at the blade’s edge. This would be her wand, and if need be, she would use it to free Nullia. The mist began to dissipate, so Valanna stood to do another pose.

  “Intruders!” a voice called out. Valanna could barely see the soldier, but that didn’t stop her from laying out another round of the fog. The hissing of an arrow sounded in the mist, not hitting anyone.

  “What do we do?” Valanna said.

  A scout appeared. “This way.”

  They all crouched down and crept away from the direction of the voice. It seemed like an hour before the scout stopped them.

  “We are closer to where the magicians are camped. Most of the army is not in the woods. Mostly officers, magicians and their guards are camped under the trees and roaming about. They are trying to fool us. The magicians are over there.” The scout pointed.

  Valanna couldn’t see anything beyond the trees. She would have to blindly follow. She wished there were poses for magicians crouched behind bushes; she certainly would feel better if there were. Her palms became sweaty as she thought of the arrow’s hiss through the fog.

  “Anyone with me, stay close, so I can use a shield,” she said quietly as the scout beckoned them forward.

  Her heart began to beat in her ears when she heard voices up ahead. She didn’t hear Nullia’s voice, but the woman wouldn’t be with anyone other than the magicians. The five black-robed magicians had to be up ahead. Was this rescue attempt a stupid idea? The Colonel didn’t think so. Sandy would have stopped her if he thought they were on a fool’s errand.

  She put her hand to her mouth and wondered if Sandy was a fool. That made her one as well. Her lip curled into a ghost of a smile. Then she would try to be the best fool ever. Valanna thought of Nullia’s flyer descending and gritted her teeth. Best fool ever, she thought again, then that was what she would be.

  The scout urged them on until they looked through a screen of brush into the magician’s camp. They were off by themselves, away from the army. Pulses, Valanna reminded herself. Shoot pulses.

  She well knew that magicians were vulnerable like anyone else to a sword or knife. She gripped her weapon even tighter when she noticed Nullia tied up against a tree. Her head hung down, but they wouldn’t be tying her to a tree if they had killed her.

  Sandy whispered in her ear, “I’ll take a scout around the camp and untie her.

  Did the magicians use the Absorption Spell on her? “She might be under their influence through a spell, so make sure she doesn’t make any sounds.” Valanna said. Her mind worked though the poses and power words she could use. Unlike the fight in Sunbeam’s restaurant, Valanna had no magicians to back her up. She motioned to Sandy and gave him, along with Lieutenant Navino and another scout, time to make their way around the camp.

  Two scouts crouched next to her. She stood up and made more fog and then hid again. She relied on that to protect them from the sight of any soldiers in the vicinity.

  “I see them,” a scout said as the fog began to thin.

  Valanna squinted and made out vague shapes through the underbrush behind Nullia. She took a few deep breaths and stood up and inched her way to a tent. “Worry,” she said. Then she assumed the sleep pose, “Paranon!”

  As she slid through the camp, she continued to use the two spells until three Blacks entered the camp. They posed while Valanna protected the two scouts with a shield. “We will inch our way towards them, and then you use your swords.”

  The Blacks continued to back up towards Nullia, throwing fireballs and continuous bolts of lightning. Her shield began to weaken a bit, so she immediately changed to wind and blew all three of them into the trees surrounding Nullia. Sandy and his companions took care of them.

  Valanna swiveled around the camp. Six magicians, including the rest of those wearing black robes, had assembled on the other side of a campfire. She quickly used wind to blow the burning wood and embers into the magicians. She raised her knife and began shooting pulses of lightning into the cluster of struggling magicians batting away the flames on their robes.

  An arrow flew from the woods and hit the back of one of the scouts. Valanna panicked and swept the camp with pulses of fire, starting at one side of Nullia and ending on the other. The tents burst into flames and the bark of the trees smoked.

  “We have her!” Sandy cried. Their only exit was towards Nullia’s tree.
One scout helped the other get across the camp and they headed into the woods.

  After struggling to carry Nullia and the wounded scout for nearly a hundred paces into the woods, they slowed up. A row of supply carts filled a clearing. Valanna sighed. Salvation, she thought.

  “Everyone in one of the wagons!” She pointed to the closest. They all piled into a cart.

  “Are you going to take us all up?” Sandy looked into the sky.

  Valanna barely smiled at him and nodded. “Hold on.”

  Arrows began to pepper the side of the wagon as Valanna crouched down and then stood and made the lift pose. An arrow struck her thigh as they quickly rose into the air. She gasped, but held the pose long enough to gain the altitude they needed, ten stories in the air.

  “You’re injured!” Lieutenant Navino said.

  “That makes three of us,” she said. With sweat streaming down her face, she stood up again and assumed the wind pose. Valanna felt her power draining as the pain in her leg began to overcome her.

  “We are far enough. Take us down,” Lieutenant Navino said, holding onto the wounded scout.

  Valanna nodded and changed her pose to descend. She fell to the floor of the wagon before it gently hit the ground and tilted over on its side as it hit a rock wall that divided two fields. She spilled out onto the ground and screamed when the arrow snapped in two as she rolled over.

  She blinked away tears of pain while Loyalist soldiers dragged the injured from the site. Someone put her on a stretcher, and she bounced as the pain began to come in ugly, intense waves. Valanna had no idea what had happened to the others and felt vaguely disappointed that she didn’t care.

  The pain continued to overwhelm her. It felt like her leg needed to come off. She wailed at the thought of losing her leg. The agony locked her tightly into a cocoon, absorbing all thought. An intense pain shocked her to screaming again.

  “It’s out,” she heard and opened her eyes. She looked up at a white-garbed healer who held the stub of an arrow in his hand. She noticed the splotches of blood on his apron. “Now we disinfect and sew you up, Miss Almond,” he said gently.

  “The others…” Her voice hardly sounded like her own. Now she didn’t feel so disappointed in herself.

  “Drink this, first,” the healer said.

  Anything to get rid of the pain. She drained the offered cup. “The others.”

  “The woman is still unconscious, but our magicians think she needs to wake up.”

  “Have them use ‘worry’.”

  “Worry?”

  Valanna struggled to nod. “They’ll understand.”

  “The scout comes after you. We have put him out, Colonel’s orders. This is going to still hurt a bit.”

  Valanna wondered why they hadn’t given her a sleeping potion as her mind began to go fuzzy. She remembered closing her eyes…

  ~

  The day had turned to night by the time Valanna again opened her eyes. A lantern lit up her tent, and someone had provided a cot to sleep on.

  “You’re back with us,” Nullia said, sitting across on her own cot. “Thank you for reminding Colonel Mirona’s idiot magicians about the ‘worry’ spell. How do you feel?”

  “Groggy.” Valanna put her hand to her head. She couldn’t feel any fever, but her leg still ached.

  “Stitches leave a scar, so when I came to, I used the wound pose on your leg. An hour or two ago, your wound wasn’t hot, that is good news. Don’t get up tonight, unless you have to. Move slowly so you don’t disrupt the healing,” Nullia said. “You are out of commission for the next few days.”

  Valanna sat straight up. “But the battle—“

  “Is over before it even begun. We got all of their magicians and burned half of the forest down in the bargain. Who knows how many officers died in the fire?”

  “The scouts said that most of the people were camped on the meadow.”

  Nullia nodded her head and then shook it. “The fire turned out to be a well-intentioned blunder. They thought we would think that they had as many men under the leaves as there were in the fields.”

  “The Colonel thought that when he sent me to fetch you.”

  “If there were that many camping in the forest, then you would have never been able to get to me, I’m sure,” Nullia said. “They thought they were clever by showing five men in black robes.” She shook her head again. “Now that they have retreated towards Espozia, you’ll have plenty of time to rest. The main forces are still fighting their way north, but we don’t want to get to Espozia before they do, do we?” She smiled for the first time that evening.

  Valanna managed one herself. “No. Is the scout okay?”

  Nullia’s face darkened. “He died while the healer tried to get the arrow out. The bleeding never stopped.”

  “He died protecting me.”

  “…And died saving me,” Nullia said. “You should have just let them take me.”

  “No! I need you—we need you. The Colonel didn’t hesitate when I asked—”

  “You asked to save me?” Nullia clucked her tongue. “Silly girl. Silly Sandy.”

  “Did someone mention my name?” Sandy stuck his head into the tent. “Are you both decent?”

  Nullia sneered, “It depends on how you define ‘decent’. If you mean presentable, then yes.”

  “Good,” he crouched underneath the low tent roof and sat beside Nullia and took her hand. The cot creaked alarmingly. He shrugged. “If it collapses, we’ll all have a good laugh and I’ll be responsible for finding a replacement, since we are staying here for a while.” Sandy grinned at Valanna, who leaned her head back on her pillow. She turned on her side to see the both of them. “The wagon didn’t make a good flyer, did it?” he said.

  “I wasn’t in the best shape with my wound,” Valanna said. “I could barely generate enough wind to get us out over the rest of the forest. The lifting spell isn’t so bad, but it takes a lot of wind to move a wagon filled with people.”

  Nullia nodded. “I doubt if I could do it, even healthy. Valanna has proven her worth, yet again.”

  Valanna gave her magician companion a weak smile. “It has become boring saving each other, hasn’t it?”

  “It’s worked this far,” Nullia shrugged and then squeezed Sandy’s hand. “Not much farther, I hope.”

  Valanna closed her eyes. The strain of her injury began to make her eyes heavy. The quiet murmurings of Sandy and Nullia began to fade as her mind returned to the rescue.

  She regretted the death of the scout, but she had to remind herself that they were in the middle of a civil war, and the casualties of their rescue attempt could have been much worse. She nearly gasped out loud when she remembered Nullia’s inert form. What if they had gone to save her and the magicians had already killed her?

  Fortunes of war. Misson had used that term enough in their conversations in Espozia and back in the town of Mozira. Those fortunes brought her back close to the capital city, and she had the scars to prove it, including a new one few would ever see.

  Nullia’s giggling intruded on her thoughts. Sandy had certainly brought a new dimension into Nullia’s life, or maybe resurrected a less-severe version. Valanna smiled at the thought and let her mind wander into slumber.

  ~~~

  Chapter Twenty-One

  ~

  Trak thought of the jumble of logs with their broken branches making the stack look even less stable. Tembul had turned the stack into a trap. Neel, Able, and Tembul began to set traps where there weren’t rocks to fill in the funnel. Traps might keep the troops from leaking south too soon, so Tembul had made it look like their efforts at camouflage weren’t done very well. He looked up at the stars from his bedroll, thinking of Tembul’s explanation.

  According to him, people would rather avoid a trap than set it off and, instead, move past it. Trak had to believe him. There were a lot of things that he began to question, now that they were working in the field. Trak’s lessons in Misson’s house were b
eing tested by the practical things that Neel, Tembul, and Rasia talked about. Those three had real experience. Neel never would talk about his military experiences, no matter how much Trak goaded him, at least he talked about techniques and strategies that had worked and those that hadn’t.

  Rasia just had a good head on her shoulders. Trak noticed the practical way in which she approached problems and how she volunteered her opinions. Colcan wasted her as a scout in the Bitrium forces.

  Of all of them, Tembul had a vast knowledge of woodcraft. He knew which trees would be better to cut down. Trak noticed that where he could, he chose looked less healthy than the ones he told them to leave intact. Rasia and Tembul designed all of the traps, and Neel worked more closely with Trak in placing the rocks.

  They worked long days instead of the expected hours, plugging gaps in the rugged terrain. Trak always went to sleep exhausted from using his powers. Ben operated the flyer with Honor, and they had decided when Trak had done enough work. Perhaps Trak should have fought against quitting earlier when he knew he had more strength, but he reminded himself that they were a team, a unit. All of them had a role, and it seemed that they all worked well together.

  He wished that they would continue for months, years even, doing what they were doing. They had avoided any conflict, and that suited Trak, but in the next day or so they would reach Honor’s designated midpoint, and that meant turning their activities from defensive to offensive. Trak continually vowed to fight. He thought of Valanna and knew he had to protect her from the rebels and the Kandannan hordes.

  The enemy didn’t seem too much like a horde, actually. They were soldiers fighting against Santasia and for Riotro. Now there was a man Trak could fight. He didn’t hate Riotro, but he knew from every snippet of information that Riotro had been the prime instigator. All of the deaths that he caused on both sides made the Black Master an evil man in Trak’s eyes. With anger, he clutched his fist in the dark.

  He had to hold onto that anger because they could be lured into the fight at any time. The night sounds suddenly stopped. Trak sat up. Something or someone had made the forest silent. He slid his sword out of the scabbard that he kept close by. He heard a similar sound from Neel and then from Rasia.