Alexander crept up behind Anatoly, who was kneeling behind the eastern edge of the low wall that ringed the top of the plateau.
Anatoly glanced back and whispered, “Good to see you up and about. How’s the shoulder?”
“Not quite mended but well enough. What’s the situation?”
Anatoly motioned over the wall, “There’s about a dozen of ’em and that fire wizard is with them. They just started picketing their horses.”
Alexander peered carefully over the low wall. He let his vision go out of focus but didn’t see any more than he expected. There were twelve men and twelve horses. He could hear someone barking orders and then half a dozen men with torches started out toward the plateau.
“What are our defenses?” Alexander asked quietly.
“We piled a bunch of stones in the gatehouse tunnel to slow them down and create a choke point. There are arrow slits all along the entrance tunnel so we can probably hold them there. We also put stacks of stones the size of a man’s head all around the perimeter wall and on top of the gatehouse. If we do it right, they won’t be able to get enough men up to the top of the ramp to be a problem. My only real concern is that wizard.”
Alexander took another look at the group of men approaching. He let his vision go out of focus so he could see their colors. He’d used his little bit of magic so often that he just took it for granted. He couldn’t imagine how limiting it must be to only see with normal vision. He could tell by the colors of the six men headed their way that the wizard wasn’t among them. People who’d been through the mana fast had a deeper mix of colors with more intensity and their aura usually extended farther around them, giving off a brighter glow. Just one more little piece of vital information that he could see and others could not.
“We may get lucky. The wizard isn’t with the group that’s on the way up.”
Lucky came up alongside them and carefully peered over the wall. “Abigail is on the gatehouse with her bow, and Jack is at the western perimeter wall with a large stack of rocks. I’ve quieted the horses and given them something to soothe their nerves so they won’t get spooked and start running if we have to fight. You say the wizard isn’t with that group headed our way?”
“No, it looks like he’s still back at their camp.” Alexander tested his shoulder again. He was feeling stronger despite his fatigue.
“Odds are they don’t know we’re here, probably just sending scouts to make sure,” Lucky mused.
Anatoly spoke softly, “Agreed. We can make short work of these six from Jack’s position. I recommend we hit them by surprise and thin their numbers. The rest of their soldiers will be here in the morning, no doubt. The fewer men we have to face in the light, the better our chances.”
Alexander nodded, “Lucky, stay here and warn us if the other six head our way. We’ll throw a few rocks at them and see if we can’t knock them off the path before they know what hit ’em.”
Anatoly and Alexander stayed low and close to the tower. The element of surprise was their best weapon and they didn’t want to squander it with carelessness. They gave the picketed horses a wide berth and made their way through the darkness to Jack’s position.
“Alexander, it’s good to see you up and about. You gave us quite a scare back there,” Jack whispered. He was sitting with his back to the low stone wall between two stacks of rocks. He had also lined the top of the wall with a rock every foot or so for a dozen feet in each direction.
Alexander peeked over the wall. It was twenty feet to the narrow path below and another thirty feet from the path to the ground. There was no cover. It was the perfect place for an ambush.
He thought back to his childhood lessons. He could hear the words of his father’s lecture in his mind: “Surprise and deception are two of the most formidable weapons you will ever have. More battles have been won by clever use of surprise or deception than by larger numbers, superior weapons, greater skill, or even magic. Each depends on the essential element of belief. If you can create a false belief in the mind of your enemy and exploit that belief, they will fall and you will prevail.”
Alexander knew that they would win this battle and they would win because they had the element of surprise. It suddenly occurred to him that he had lost the last battle, in large part, because he had allowed himself to be surprised and it had very nearly cost him his life.
When he heard the six men coming up the path, his mind snapped back to the present. He relaxed his vision and scanned all around for any sign of life that he wasn’t aware of, but saw none. Six men came around the corner of the plateau and into view. They were walking single file, each carrying a torch, and they were complaining about being assigned to scout the plateau. Each wore the crest of the Southport city guard. Alexander supposed they had been bought by the Reishi just like the other guards. He wondered if the Regent of Southport was actually the one who was in league with Phane. It made sense. The Reishi Prince would bribe the most powerful and influential people he could in order to secure power over the Seven Isles.
Alexander, Jack, and Anatoly each stood quietly in the darkness and each took a heavy rock from those placed along the top of the wall. They waited until the first three soldiers passed and the remaining three were directly below them. As one, they carefully tossed their rocks into the night. There was no need to heave them. They didn’t need to add any force or power to their impromptu weapons. Each rock weighed a good twenty pounds or more. All they needed to do was toss them accurately and let gravity do the rest. Each small boulder sailed through the darkness, gathering frightening speed. Smoke swirled violently when the rocks passed out of the darkness and into the sphere of light cast by the enemy’s flickering torches.
The first rock was a direct hit. The soldier crumpled to the ground in a heap as the rock caved in his skull despite the protection of his helm. The second rock struck the next in line on the back of his left shoulder. He pitched forward in surprise and stumbled right off the edge of the path, plummeting thirty feet to the ground without so much as a whimper. The third rock smashed squarely into the base of the last man’s neck. He fell forward flat on his face and didn’t move again.
The next salvo of boulders was away before the first three had a chance to understand or react to the attack. One took a direct hit to the face when he spun and looked up. He fell in a broken and bloody mess. The next dodged quickly enough to avoid the boulder hurtling toward his head but lost his balance in the bargain and went over the edge, screaming briefly before the ground silenced him. The third managed to leap backward and get his shield up just in time to take a solid hit. He fell backward but the heavy rock glanced off his round shield. He was back on his feet more quickly than Alexander would have thought possible. The last man standing ran for his life.
Anatoly was ready. He cast his next stone off the edge in an arc that brought it down in front of the fleeing guard. The moment the rock was away, Anatoly raced along the wall to the next position where he’d placed stones. The rock he tossed missed but he hadn’t been trying to hit him. He wanted it to come down in front of the fleeing soldier to slow him down and it worked like a charm. The soldier stopped short when the rock shattered on the path in front of him, and then he looked up, raising his shield, for the next attack. Anatoly cast a stone aimed for the glint of moonlight off polished steel. The rock scored a direct hit against the shield. The force of it propelled the soldier off the path as if he’d been tossed by a giant. He hit the ground with a terrible thud and the night went silent.
All three waited for a moment in the dark before they collectively breathed a sigh of relief. They started for the east side of the plateau to see if the rest of the Reishi hunting party had been alerted. They came up alongside Lucky from his left, moving low and quiet. Abigail approached from the right. The remaining six men were busy making camp. They appeared to be unaware of the death of their scouting party, but Alexander knew they’d be missed soon enough.
“Alex, how’s your shou
lder?” Abigail sounded concerned and relieved at the same time. She knew firsthand how well Lucky could heal if given the time and his bag of tricks, but she wanted to hear it from her brother.
“Still a little stiff, but better than I have any right to expect,” Alexander said. “We killed the six that were headed up to scout the plateau. I expect the rest will become suspicious sooner rather than later.”
“We left a couple of them back on the trail,” Jack said. “If we tossed them over before any more came up the path we might be able to use the same tactic on the rest. I’ll run down and tidy up if one of you will keep an eye out for me.”
“I agree,” Anatoly said. “You head down the path and I’ll keep watch from the north side. Lucky, let us know if any of ’em head our way.” He waited until everyone nodded agreement before moving off into the night. Jack disappeared into the dark, leaving Alexander and Abigail with Lucky to watch the enemy camp.
The soldiers were cooking dinner over an oversized fire. The night air was getting cold and the moon had risen, casting its eerie glow over the world. It was more than enough light to see by.
One of men got up from his seat around the fire and walked out of its circle of illumination to peer up toward the plateau. Alexander was sure the man couldn’t see them but he felt uneasy just the same. The man returned to the fire and spoke to the only man dressed in robes. The man in robes nodded and took one last bite of his dinner before walking a few paces from the fire. He stood facing the plateau and started chanting.
A chill raced up Alexander’s spine. He relaxed his vision and saw the man’s aura flare as he called his magic. “He’s casting a spell,” Alexander whispered tensely.
In unison, the three of them turned and sat with their backs to the wall. A moment later a white-hot streak of flame rose high into the sky above them, casting a harsh light that threw hard shadows as it moved overhead. Moments later it faded into nothingness and the world plunged abruptly into darkness again.
“A signal, I suspect,” Lucky said. “He’ll be expecting the scouting party to answer soon.”
They heard Jack before they could see him. The flare had ruined their night vision.
“It’s me,” he whispered, moving up next to them in the darkness. “What was that?”
“Lucky says it was a signal,” Abigail whispered to Jack, who crept up alongside her, making sure to stay low.
“They’ll be coming soon then. The path is clear of bodies. I’ll go find Anatoly.” Jack disappeared into the darkness again.
Sure enough the six men at the camp were all standing and watching the plateau, waiting for a signal of some sort. Alexander knew that they would come soon. He was worried about the wizard.
After a few minutes, the enemy began to gather their gear. Each of the five men in armor lit a torch and all six started for the plateau. They hadn’t made it ten steps when the night was shattered by an otherworldly howl that stopped the men in their tracks and made Alexander’s blood run cold. Before the first terrible howl went silent it was joined by another and then another. Alexander broke out in a cold sweat. He knew in an instant what they were.
Nether wolves.
Creatures summoned from the depths of the netherworld, the plane of death. Beasts brought forth into this world by Phane Reishi for the singular purpose of hunting Alexander down and killing him. Before the shrieking yowl from the beasts in the distance ended both Jack and Anatoly were at his side.
Alexander’s night vision had once again adjusted to the light of the moon. He looked Anatoly in the eye and for the first time in his life he saw fear there. The big man-at-arms could stand before any human foe with a good chance of living through the fight, but this was something else. The quality of the noise the nether wolves made spoke to Alexander’s life essence. He knew at a visceral level that they were not of this world. They were not bound by the rules of life and death because they were already dead.
Lucky sighed, “This may be a problem.” He sat down and started rummaging through his bag.
Jack was almost calm except for a slight tremor that ran through his voice. “Well, at least the Reishi have decided against an attack.”
The Reishi had indeed stopped heading toward the plateau and were instead busy setting out firewood at points in a circle surrounding the main fire of their camp. The wizard was urgently directing where each stack of wood was to be placed.
“Whatever made that noise sounds like it’s still a long way off. We have some time to prepare.” Anatoly had quickly regained his composure. “Lucky, tell me you have something in that bag of yours.”
Almost as if on cue, Lucky produced a small metal canister about two inches in diameter and four or five inches long with a metal cap screwed and wired tightly in place. “I’m afraid this is all I have capable of defeating such a beast.” He looked at it almost fondly.
Abigail frowned, “What’s it do?”
“Ah, my dear, this is a very rare creature of great and terrible power. It looks like nothing more than a puddle of thick black water but when it comes in contact with nearly any other thing, save glass, stone, or dirt, it will transform that which it touches into more of itself. It’s really quite dangerous. If I were to cast it into the forest it would transform everything for several miles into nothing but more of itself. All of the trees, bushes, and animals would be lost to it. When the rays of sunlight touch the creature, it turns to ash almost instantly.”
“That sounds awful. Why would you have such a thing?” Abigail asked, wrinkling her nose.
Lucky smiled good-naturedly, “Sometimes your enemy is best defeated by introducing him to another enemy.”
Anatoly chuckled softly.
Jack looked like he was taking notes in his head again.
“Sounds like we’ll have to be very careful about how we use that stuff. I don’t want to destroy the forest and I don’t want to get any of us killed by it either,” Alexander said while he watched the Reishi make preparations for the coming threat. It seemed odd to him that they were clearly just as afraid of the nether wolves as Alexander was. He wondered if they might kill each other but thought it was too much to hope for.
“I agree,” Lucky said. “It would be best used in a place where it can be contained, like the gatehouse tunnel. There isn’t any grass there, just stone and dirt. If we catch one of the creatures in the tunnel, it would be consumed in just a few moments. The puddle of slime that remained would have nothing to feed on so it wouldn’t spread and it would offer the added benefit of effectively sealing off the gatehouse entrance. Anything that tried to pass would be consumed as well. Of course, our horses would be trapped up here and we’d have to climb over the wall and drop down to the path to get out ourselves.”
“Let’s call that a last resort,” Alexander suggested. “The more you talk about that stuff, the scarier it sounds.”
Abigail nodded her agreement.
“Let’s try to get some rest while we wait. It sounded like it’ll be a while and those Reishi certainly don’t look like they’re going anywhere tonight. I’ll take first watch,” Alexander said, pulling a blanket from his bedroll to ward off the chill night air.
For all the impending threats, the rest of the night was quiet. Those who could sleep did so fretfully. Mostly they waited with a sense of dread weighing down on them. The watch kept a close eye on the Reishi camp down on the plain below but none of the Reishi strayed from the protection of their firelight. About an hour before dawn, the still night air was shattered again by the keening, shrieking howl of the nether wolves. This time they were much closer.
Chapter 16
Alexander sat bolt upright from his half sleep. He was on his feet, moving to the low perimeter wall in a blink. His heart pounded in his chest, so he schooled his breathing to calm his near panic at being abruptly awakened by such a terrifying noise.
Anatoly had just relieved Lucky on watch and was looking intently into the darkness in the direction of the otherworldl
y howls. Alexander came up alongside him quietly, still keeping low to avoid the notice of the Reishi. He didn’t really care much who or what planned to kill him, dead was dead, and he’d learned a hard lesson the day before. He was determined to be mindful of every possible threat. He scanned the plain below and relaxed his vision. He reminded himself not to take his ability for granted. It had saved him more than once. He saw the nether wolves almost immediately.
Out in the darkness, he saw the opposite of life. The three beasts coming for him were holes in the world to his second sight. Their auras were not the rich colors of life, but instead splotches of impossible blackness moving through the night and they were coming fast. They bounded toward the fire of the Reishi camp faster than any horse could run.
All of the soldiers in the camp were up with weapons at the ready and the wizard was chanting. Alexander saw his aura swell when he sent his intention into the firmament and commanded reality to bend to his will. It happened suddenly. His aura abruptly collapsed back in on him and a stream of white hot flame arched from his outstretched hands and leapt to the first of the piles of firewood that had been laid out in a circle around their camp. The flame flared, grew into a blaze, then arched from the first pile of firewood to both of the piles on the left and right. Fire flowed from the wizard’s hands, jumping from each pre-positioned pile of wood to the next until the flames formed an unbroken circular wall surrounding and protecting the Reishi camp.
By now, everyone was up and looking over the wall with Alexander. A week ago he’d been hunting wolves on the north range of his father’s estate. So much had changed in such a short time. His brother was dead, murdered. His family home had been set ablaze. He didn’t know if his parents still lived. He’d been chased from his home and hunted. He’d been nearly mortally wounded. He’d killed. And now wolves were hunting him.
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