by Pedro Urvi
The Rogdonian soldiers fell back into their positions and waited, knowing that their Battle Mage was clearing the way for them. Once the spell ended, they went forward and mercilessly attacked the surviving Noceans, who were retreating in confusion, surprised and terrified by the magic. The battle on the western side of the wall was beginning to swing towards the defenders.
Satisfied, Mirkos reached the top of the wall. Komir and his two comrades walked at his side, protecting him. Mirkos turned his attention to the cloak of darkness which covered the outside of the wall. Keeping that spell going on for so long had to be consuming the magic of the enemy Sorcerers at a great rate; they would not be able to keep it up much longer. A new brown flash caught his attention.
Danger!
But this time he saw it in time. Immediately he invoked a quick protective spell, and the sphere of earth which surrounded him was strengthened with a new anti-magic layer. Let’s hope the enemy’s magic doesn’t penetrate my protective shield. It should be powerful enough to protect me from any type of magic, as long as it isn’t unusually powerful. Let’s hope it holds; that Sorcerer out there is really strong. He looked to his side and saw a white flash from Komir’s medallion which immediately raised a protective shield around him too. Komir stared at his protective barrier with eyes like saucers. Looking at Hartz he cried:
“Get out of here! They’ve cast a spell!”
Hartz did not even think. In a trice he grabbed Kayti’s hand and pulled her towards the stairs.
A fetid, greenish cloud began to cover much of the wall where the Rogdonian soldiers were beginning to gain the upper hand.
“Hurry up! Run!” Hartz urged Kayti as they ran
“We won’t make it!” she shouted, seeing the putrid cloud almost upon them.
Hartz ran on to the very edge of the parapet. He looked down, toward the inner courtyard.
“Just a little more!” he cried.
“It’s coming!” Kayti cried back.
Hartz looked into her eyes, then down, squeezed her hand and said:
“Jump!”
Komir watched what was happening in horror. He ran to the edge and looked down to where they had disappeared. He was expecting to see them lying broken on the cobblestones, but to his immense surprise he saw the caved-in roof of the stable. They had jumped on to the roof and it had caved in. He saw Hartz coming out from under a pile of hay and broken boards. He disappeared again into the half-collapsed structure and came out with Kayti in his arms. She stroked the giant’s hair and murmured something in his ear, then kissed him passionately. Anger forced Komir to look elsewhere. That damned woman! She had him more and more ensnared. That was surely going to cause trouble. They seemed to be all right, safe from the stinking cloud which was engulfing everything on the wall. Fortunately the sphere protected Komir from the noxious effect of the spell. He went back into the fray.
The fetid, greenish cloud became a putrid green miasma which wrapped around the few soldiers still standing and hid them from view.
Drocus launched a tremendous stroke at a Nocean soldier, then skewered another with a thrust. He suddenly became aware of the stench and burning which by now completely surrounded him. He felt his skin burning with a brutal intensity, which in a single heartbeat became unbearable, as if someone had poured boiling oil over him. He writhed in pain. He saw that the man in front of him too was suffering a terrible torture. A rash appeared on the tanned face of his enemy. It spread horribly while the soldier, unable to bear it, dropped his weapons and put his hands to his face. He fell to his knees amid screams of pain, and the violent spots turned pestilent.
Drocus felt such pain in his entire body that he wanted to jump off the battlements to end his suffering. He leaned against a stone support and on his knees, tried to bear the torture. Aargh! By the Light! What’s this infernal stinging on my skin? It’s as if they’d poisoned our very blood. I have to bear it, I can’t lose my head because of the pain. Around the General the men in their horrible suffering started jumping off the wall to escape the pain, finding death in the process. Chaos took over the whole central section of the western wall, with Rogdonians and Noceans alike falling poisoned.
The protection Mirkos had raised around him held, preventing the spell from penetrating the defensive sphere. Komir reached the great Mage and stood beside him. Mirkos focused on the brown flash he had just witnessed. He invoked a Fire Enchantment with a long utterance of power, pointing with his staff at the point where he had seen the flash a few moments before. He could see nothing under the cloak of darkness called up by the Nocean Sorcerers, but he knew that one of them was there, the one who was causing this disaster.
“Burn, damn you, burn!” he cried in fury.
A great ball of fire shot out of his staff, tearing the darkness in its path. An instant before the impact Mirkos was able to identify a Nocean Sorcerer, surrounded by half a dozen acolytes. The flaming ball was heading directly towards him, towards the origin of the malevolent spell.
And the ball of fire struck the enemy Sorcerer.
It burst into great flames which overwhelmed everything and everyone for ten paces around. The screams of the Sorcerer and his acolytes as the flames devoured their bodies reached Komir’s ears. Fascinated, he witnessed the enormous destructive power of the King’s Mage.
The cloak of darkness vanished at once. The evil poisoning of the blood also disappeared a moment later. The deadly cloud faded away, clearing the battlements. The enemy Sorcerers had been consumed by the flames amid agonized screams, and their evil spells with them.
Mirkos turned back to the battlements and walked through the fallen defenders. Komir followed him in silence, overwhelmed by the scene. Almost all were dead, except for a few who were still breathing. They reached Drocus. The General’s face was unrecognizable beneath the rash and greenish bloating, but he was still breathing. His back was resting against a stone support and he was still holding his sword.
“Hold on, Drocus, I’ll get you out of this,” Mirkos said.
“Mirkos, my friend… there’s nothing that can be done… now…”
“Don’t say that. I’m going to get help. I’ll be back.”
Drocus clutched his arm.
“It’s too late for me.”
“Drocus, no!”
“I die… fighting for my country… with honor… as I always wanted.”
“Drocus, we need you!”
“You’ll have to go on… without me… I know you will…”
“Drocus, my friend…”
But the Great General of the Army of Rogdon had taken his final leave.
Mirkos was unable to hold back tears of rage and sorrow.
A Nocean soldier came up behind him and struck the spherical shield of earth which surrounded the Mage with his scimitar. The shield repelled the thrust but weakened somewhat from the impact. A crack appeared in it.
“You damned treacherous Noceans!” Mirkos cursed. “You’ll pay for this, I swear by what is most sacred, you’ll pay with blood!”
Komir took a step forward, sword and dagger in hand, to face the soldier.
“Leave him to me,” Mirkos said.
Komir withdrew.
Mirkos intoned a short sentence of power and a flame shot out of his staff. The Nocean was engulfed by flames and fled in terror, carrying the fire to several of his comrades who had just finished climbing the wall. Mirkos saw a sea of enemy soldiers trying to reach the wall with assault ladders and hooked ropes. When he saw the enemy so close he quailed, and a spark of fear lit inside him.
“There are too many of them,” he said to Komir. “I don’t know how we’ll manage to contain them. The situation is critical.”
Komir watched the scene for an instant and nodded.
Dolbar and his men had finally been able to get through the blockade. They reached Mirkos and Komir, who looked like the personification of a couple of war gods, surrounded as they were by dead soldiers from both sides. Duke Galen also
managed to reach the group. His men took possession of the western wall, and to be better able to hold it, they pushed the dead bodies over the wall.
When he saw Drocus’ lifeless body the Duke said, with sorrow in his eyes:
“A great man, a brave one, and an irreparable loss to the Kingdom.
Mirkos nodded.
“The King will feel this loss sorely,” said the Duke. “He was his closest Counselor and most faithful friend.”
Several Noceans reached the battlements, and the Duke and his brother took care of them with sublime skill, since both were excellent swordsmen. The fight for the western wall turned chaotic and desperate once again, with thousands of Noceans trying to climb the huge wall while the defenders pushed back wave after wave.
Mirkos raised his staff and said:
“I’d better help our men with my magic now that the Nocean archers have fallen.”
Without any more delay, with a long utterance of power he began to send balls of fire against the enemy hordes attacking the central section of the wall. All hell broke loose among the enemy as the flames consumed them amid cries of fear and despair. They fell by the hundreds, and their burnt bodies began to pile up at the foot of the wall. But on the farthest areas, those furthest from Mirkos, the defenders were losing the battle. They were outnumbered by the avalanches of Noceans who kept coming over the wall despite their losses.
A bugle sounded from the east.
“Damnation, Kilbar is in trouble on the eastern wall!” Duke Galen cried.
“We can’t send him any men,” Dolbar said. “We can barely hold this section.”
“Perhaps not men, but what about a Mage? I’ll go. It’s most likely he’s in trouble because of some Sorcerer.”
“Agreed,” Galen said. “Dolbar and I will defend this wall. Good luck, Mirkos.”
“Thank you, I’ll need plenty of that! Stand firm, don’t let them take the wall or they’ll have free passage into the city.”
“They won’t take it,” Dolbar assured him.
Mirkos beckoned Komir to follow him, and they went down the stairs. Below, already recuperated, Hartz and Kayti were waiting.
“Come with me,” ordered the Mage.
The three of them followed without hesitation.
They mounted horses in the square and rode at speed across the city to the eastern wall. When they got there they found Kilbar at the foot of the stairs sending the last reinforcements to the lower part of the wall.
“I’m really glad to see you, Mirkos!” the Captain greeted him.
“What’s happening? What’s the situation?” Mirkos asked.
“They have some kind of Sorcerer out there and he’s decimating us. He’s used some kind of curse, some dark and depraved spell, which robs our men of all their physical strength. They can barely hold their weapons. On the upper level something even worse is going on. The men have fallen inexplicably ill, they cough and vomit blood, they can barely fight back. The surgeon says there’s nothing wrong with them, that it has to be some unknown poisoning. It must be some other kind of Nocean magic. Either we stop them or we’re lost.”
“Let’s go up. I need to locate them.”
“You won’t be able to. That cursed blackness is covering the whole outside of the wall.”
“Anyway, let’s go up.”
Thoughtfully, they looked at the darkness outside the battlements. Mirkos was searching for the telltale flash of magic being used and not finding it. The enemy went on climbing the wall like a swarm, and the weakened defenders were falling before the enemy’s greater numbers.
“I’m going to need some help,” he asked Komir, who was at his side together with Hartz and Kayti. “Can you summon up a spell of any kind?”
“No, I really can’t, Mirkos. It’s the medallion that calls, but it does it of its own volition, not mine. There was just one time I managed to work magic by myself, and it took me hours and lots of pain.”
“I see… very interesting… this medallion, I can certainly see that. Anyway, as you possess the Gift, if you’ve called upon a spell it means you’ll be able to do so at will one day. But it requires years of training and study, which we unfortunately don’t have.”
Komir bent his head, aware now for the first time of the amount of work it would take to learn to command his power.
“I’m sorry I can’t help, Mirkos…”
“Don’t you worry, it’s not your fault. Let me think…” Mirkos pointed to several bows and quivers piled beside some barrels. “How are you with a bow?”
“We’re excellent archers,” Hartz said with a broad smile. “Now that’s a way we can certainly help, and with pleasure!”
“Then arm yourselves. I need you,”
Komir and Hartz picked up a couple of bows, nocked their arrows and came to stand beside Mirkos.
“This is going to be fun,” Hartz said, grinning.
“Your friend likes a fight, doesn’t he?”
“He certainly does,” Komir replied with the trace of a smile. “He loves to crush skulls and break bones.”
“Ready?”
“Ready,” the two Norriel replied.
Mirkos summoned the two protective spheres, that of earth to protect against physical attacks, and the ethereal anti-magic one. Having both spheres raised consumed his energy fast. Because of this he had to ration their use, or else his power would run out. He had already consumed much of his inner energy with the spells he had been using. Fire spells were particularly demanding.
“I’m going to banish the darkness with a spell.”
“That will let us identify the Sorcerers,” Kayti said, looking into the dark. “They must be near the wall.”
“Indeed,” said the Mage. “But it will also have the opposite effect: they’ll be able to locate me…”
“I can see that…” said the redhead. She looked at Hartz, who with his bow at the ready had not completely grasped the implications and glanced at her questioningly. Kayti winked at him and nodded ahead of her.
Mirkos concentrated and pointed his staff. He chanted words of power and summoned a Wind Enchantment. The great translucent pearl at the end of his staff began to shed an intense white light. This pure light spread throughout the darkness, gradually destroying it as it expanded all over the plateau outside the wall. The endless sea of enemies was revealed. Below, to the right of where the group stood, came a brown flash. As if in reply to his spell, a black bolt shot out directly towards Mirkos’ body and hit both protective spheres. It weakened them significantly, but they held. Mirkos was able to identify the attacking Sorcerer and his two acolytes.
He pointed his staff at him.
The enemy Sorcerer raised his own protective shield against any spell Mirkos might send him.
Mirkos sent a ball of light which fell at the Sorcerer’s feet.
The light was shining so brightly it was unmistakable from the wall.
The Sorcerer opened his eyes wide in surprise, looked at the light and then towards Mirkos on the wall.
The Mage smiled. You thought I would attack you with a destructive spell, didn’t you? Well, no…
Two swift, sure arrows pierced the Nocean Sorcerer before he had time to protect himself again.
He had fallen into the trap. It was the two Norriel he should have protected himself from.
An instant later the two acolytes fell, pierced in their turn by Komir and Hartz’s true shots.
“Excellent work,” Mirkos congratulated both archers. “I see your people’s fame as good warriors is well deserved.”
“Our pleasure,” said Hartz with a sardonic smile.
The Noceans, now revealed, broke out in deafening yells and launched themselves against the walls as if possessed. The defenders, free from enchantments, now succeeded in withstanding the enemy assault. Mirkos began to bring death and destruction to the enemy as the fire missiles and flames felled the enemy front lines, where the losses could now be counted in the thousands. By his side,
protecting him, Kayti, Hartz and Komir killed enemies right and left, staining the battlements with red.
Mirkos was transformed into a fallen angel, a god of destruction.
He would finish off his enemies in the guise of a fire demon.
But the Noceans were not stopping; they kept climbing the walls to kill or die, guided by blind faith. Kilbar, the best swordsman in the Kingdom, slew with astonishing ease, the Noceans falling at his feet faster than he could count. Hartz wielded his sword with both hands like a god of war, tireless and indestructible. Komir danced with sword and dagger, killing everyone who crossed his path. Kayti fought intelligently, weighing up every situation, every thrust, economizing on effort. But as on the eastern wall the enemy hordes, crushingly superior in number, began to outweigh the weakened defenders. The wall was too long and the line of Rogdonians too thin. They fought and fought, bringing death to the sons of the desert, trying to help the Rogdonian soldiers who fell, overwhelmed by the dark ocean of enemies.
In the midst of the fray, half a dozen Noceans jumped on Mirkos. They came out of nowhere and before he could react they were on him.
“Look out!” shouted Komir.
Three heavy scimitars hit the Mage’s defensive sphere hard. Clumps of earth flew out of it and the shield began to crack. Komir realized Mirkos’ energy must be nearly depleted; he did not seem able to keep the sphere in being.
Mirkos defended himself with the staff but did not cast any spell.
Komir ran to the Mage and faced the enemy.
Three other scimitars hit the Mage’s defense, which gave way, collapsing completely.
Mirkos was in the open!
Komir killed his first opponent and threw himself at a second one, trying desperately to help Mirkos.
A scimitar came straight towards the Mage’s neck, but he blocked it with his staff.
Hartz came to help, and with a phenomenal stroke he severed the heads of two of the Noceans crowding round Mirkos.