by Greg Curtis
“Fire dogs.”
He told Hendon and Bar what he thought, but they were already ahead of him, thinking the same thing. As the two sparks of fire that had been hired, they had been preparing specifically for them. And they'd been training for weeks, not just a couple of days like him. He could see the fire in their eyes already and he quickly started gathering his own.
If they were fire dogs he knew his best weapon would be to disenchant them. The fire was bound within the armour by enchantments woven into it. Enchantments they could all undo. As long as it was fire. But if there were any wind demons out there they would be defenceless against them. And against the rock gnomes themselves it would be a matter of using their muskets and fireballs.
They stood there, the three of them, waiting nervously. The other sparks with them were perhaps more nervous still. Their magic after all would be completely useless against the fire dogs. They didn't have to wait long.
There was a sound, metal beating against metal and then a heartbeat later there were men screaming and muskets firing and they knew the battle had been joined.
“Myan now!”
Who shouted it Edouard didn't know, but the man was right. The histories had all said that the rock gnomes preferred to attack by night, thinking that they had the advantage. Perhaps they did. Until someone had thought to hire a spark of light.
Instantly Myan cast his magic into the air high above them and the battlefield turned into daylight. They could see the enemy; better still, the enemy knew that they could be seen. That came as a shock to them and many foolishly looked up into the sky wondering what had happened. They were cut down in split seconds as they did so, having stupidly made themselves targets, and Edouard knew they wouldn't be getting back up. They might be resistant against one or two hits, but this time they were riddled with holes. Not much survived that.
Meanwhile he and his fellow sparks had to worry about the fire dogs. The rock gnomes had brought fifty of them to lead the assault.
It was the first time Edouard had seen one of the demon dogs. He’d heard that they had been spotted elsewhere, and he had seen drawings of them in the books the dragon had given him. But he had never seen one. Now seeing them, he knew that the reality of them was far worse than his imagining.
Like the wind demons they had no actual bodies. They were just pieces of steel armour in the shape of wolves, moving as if they were being worn by the beasts. But where the inside of the wind demons had been spinning eddies of air and dust, the heart of these beasts was fire. They burnt from the inside out, and some of those flames escaped through the gaps between the armour plates, making it impossible for a man with a sword to attack one.
They were a terrifying sight, the more so when they howled, and seeing them Edouard knew why they had been the enemy's shock troops. But he also knew how they worked and why the rock gnomes had been so desperate to get rid of everyone who had the spark of magic. Because the simple reality was that what could be summoned could just as easily be sent away.
Edouard and the other sparks of fire cast their thoughts into their midst – not an easy thing to do when they were charging furiously towards him – and found the nearest enchantment. A moment was all it took. The enchantment was strong but also rigid. It had to be to hold so much fire. And all he had to do was open up the magical bonds between the plates. Edouard did that with a thought, and instantly saw a fireball appear in the distance as the magic was released.
If there was more time he would have congratulated himself, but there just wasn't, and immediately he reached for the next one. The others were doing the same and soon there were fireballs all the way through the pack. But it wasn't enough. Not when a few heartbeats later a good forty of the steel beasts smashed into the front lines.
Men screamed in terror, and he heard the clangs as steel smashed against steel. Edouard saw bodies flying in all directions from the impact, some of them in pieces. He heard screams and saw some of those men flying through the air in flames and he knew it was because the men had drawn their swords and the fighting had become hand to hand. And all he could do was keep breaking down the enchantments one by one. It was too slow.
Someone sent lightning into the horde following the fire dogs, hopefully sending a few more to the afterlife. Just before a band of men charged them with pikes, hoping to either separate the steel plates and release the fire, or else just hold them at bay while the musketeers filled them full of holes.
Then the cannon spoke.
It came as a shock to hear them roar. Their thunder was so loud against everything else. The sound reverberated around the distant hills and shook the ground under his feet. But it was a good shock. And as Edouard concentrated on undoing the fire dog's enchantments he celebrated each and every new crack of thunder.
Soon a dozen fire dogs had fallen to him and the others had been similarly successful. What was left of the pack was no longer a strike force; just a few angry steel clad elementals. Edouard felt pleased by that, but he was still worried by the numbers of rock gnomes he could see emerging from the far side of the village and charging them. There were so many of them! The cannon were firing continuously, tearing holes in the advancing lines, and the soldiers were firing as well. Everywhere he could see rock gnomes falling. But there were just so many of them.
He kept disenchanting the fire dogs, knowing that there were only a few left and that the sooner they were destroyed the sooner the soldiers fighting them would be free to reload and start taking down the enemy. And the sooner he would be free to start lobbing a few fire balls their way.
Thirty seconds was all it took, but by the time the last of the fire dogs was gone the front lines of the enemy were already on them. They hit like waves crashing into one another and there was total confusion in front of them, and for a while Edouard had no clue as to which way the wave would roll. But as he started lobbing fireballs into the pack behind them someone else remembered the plan.
“Myan!” A man screamed the spark's name and instantly Myan responded, sending his light balls deep into the lines of the enemy. The result was immediate. The rock gnomes started screaming, covering their eyes as the eye-wateringly bright light cut through their veils, and that gave their soldiers the chance they needed. They struck back, swords and axes finding the soft parts of the enemy and it was the rock gnomes who screamed. Blinded they couldn't defend themselves, and their soldiers knew exactly how to take advantage of that. That was why Myan's most powerful magic had been held back until just then. To strike confusion into the enemy just when they were within range of the soldiers melee weapons.
Soon it was their lines that were advancing into the rock gnomes. Marcus somewhere up near the front was bellowing orders, and Edouard's hope was that they were winning. They had to be winning!
The rock gnomes began falling back, their lines in disarray, and the soldier's lines began reforming into something solid. Meanwhile Edouard and the others kept sending their magic flying into the fray, adding to the enemy's confusion, and as the fireballs rained down on them they finally broke.
Like mice fleeing when the cover of whatever they were hiding behind was taken away, they ran, scattering in all directions, and Edouard knew then that the battle was won. So did everyone else and the men started cheering and screaming with triumph. Not that they let it stop them shooting the rock gnomes that fled or killing those that had fallen. Nothing could be allowed to stop that.
It was a rout. The rock gnomes were in complete disarray, their lines had been broken, their ordered retreat had become a shambles, and the soldiers put them down in their hundreds. While Myan's light bombs had them blinded they were almost defenceless. They didn't even know which way to run. Some of them even fled straight into the waiting arms of their forces. They didn't last long.
Five minutes later it was over. The enemy was gone and all that was left behind were bodies. Lots of bodies. The battlefield was covered with them. Edouard had no thought as to how many that must be.
A battlefield six hundred yards wide and at least twice as many long was now covered in the dead. He knew the rock gnomes' dead had to number in the thousands. The rock gnomes had paid a terrible price for their attack.
But at the same time Edouard was struck by the fact that they could afford to lose such a number. Fifty fire dogs! That said they'd been very busy building their army of bound armoured demons. And an army of three, four or five thousand soldiers? The very fact that they could find so many was frightening. Even if they'd lost perhaps half of them in this single battle, it still left him wondering just how many more they had.
He also wondered how many of their own they'd lost. Most of the bodies that he could see wore the black of the rock gnomes. But not all of them. And unlike the gnomes they had limits on how many more they could call on. Maybe that was why he could see his brother up ahead, already riding back and forth, shouting for the injured to be carried to the healers, and for the dead to be counted. The soldiers wanted to cheer and shout; he wanted to know how many they'd lost and save as many of the rest as he could.
Perhaps that was the real lesson to be learned here. That this was war, and in war, everyone lost. The side that triumphed was the side that lost the least or could afford to lose the most.
Were they that side?
Edouard wondered about that as he heard the cries for the healers being sent out. As he watched the fallen being brought back to the heart of the camp for them to be tended to. He finally understood exactly what it was that the rock gnomes had feared in those with magic. And he knew he and the others could make a valuable contribution to the war. They could undo the rock gnomes’ most powerful magic.
But at the same time he knew that the rock gnomes would not go down easily. The fire demon dogs had only been shock troops. There to break through lines and leave them in disarray. But the thousands of soldiers behind them had been the true force. And if everything had gone according to plan the rock gnomes would have cut right through them.
As he returned to the fire with the other sparks, Edouard couldn't help but feel that they had been lucky this night. Fortune had favoured them.
But Virius wouldn't always be so kind.
Chapter Forty Eight
April stepped out of the portal into the back yard of Edouard's portal and straight into her big sister's arms. Leona it seemed had been waiting for her. And it was good to see her again. It was strange though.
This strange old fort in the middle of nowhere was Edouard's home. It had been for as long as she could remember. Or at least ever since she had been a girl. But Edouard wasn't here any longer. He was marching with the army heading north to Theria. And father had said that someone from House Barris had to be there in his absence. Someone had to fly the colours for the family. So Leona and her husband were now the lord and lady of the fort, and together with their children, they were transforming it into a home. Perhaps that was as it should be. Even in a fortress in the middle of enemy lands during a war.
Of course April knew that there was one reason above all else that Leona was standing there waiting for her. She was worried about Edouard.
“He's all right. They both are. There was a big battle at Abbotsford, but they won through and neither was injured. And from then on the battles have been easier. The enemy has been broken. Marcus sent a message through to Father this morning.”
The moment April told her the news she saw Leona relax a little. The worry lines in her face eased just a bit. She understood that. Marcus she didn't worry so much about. She didn't need to. There was something about him that said he was unkillable. Unbeatable with sword and pistol in hand. A god of the battlefield. There was a reason they called him the bull. But Edouard wasn't the same. He wasn't a warrior and he was already injured. He had nearly died in fact. And aside from all of that he was Leona's little brother. Her responsibility. Just as April had been Edouard's. And Thomas was hers in turn.
“Praise the Seven! He is a fool but the world would be a sadder place without him.”
A fool? April wouldn't have called him that. A man preoccupied with his toys perhaps. And as he would often say, someone determined to live a life of respectable futility as his station in life demanded of him. But never a fool. Before she could think of protesting however, her sister had turned her around and was marching her into the fort for some refreshments.
Along the way Leona began telling her about her plans for the fort, which began with washing away centuries full of grime and filth and getting rid of endless piles of useless bric-a-brac. April suspected Edouard wasn't going to be too happy about that. But he would be even less pleased with her plans to cover the floors with more rugs, the walls with tapestries after the stone blocks had been properly pointed, and then to polish every piece of bare wood she could find. This was Edouard's home, and he liked the primitive nature of it. He liked that it was a fortress. He didn't want to live in a manor house filled with servants, polished silverware, elegant furnishings and expensive works of art. He absolutely didn't want to think about twelve foot velvet drapes covering the soon to be enlarged windows or a new portcullis.
But April knew that there was no point in mentioning that to Leona. Her big sister was a hurricane of plans and orders when it came to all things domestic. There would be no stopping her. Besides which, Edouard had given it to her to look after in his absence, and he had to have known what Leona would do. Then too, the family needed space, and since the ward seemed to be holding and keeping the enemy away from the fort, it was a good place to call home. A far better place than their quarters in Bitter Crest.
And the children seemed to love it. April could see the two of them running around the battlements playing a game of chase, laughing as they hadn't in a long while, and the sight gladdened her heart.
In fact she knew this fort would probably have to become the family home until their new one in Bitter Crest was completed. That might be a couple of years away. Still, as long as Leona stayed out of the library and the basement she suspected Edouard would tolerate her wishes. He would have to.
“Sister!”
Denetta greeted them excitedly from the front door, surprising April. She hadn't known the demoness was here. And then as always she had to suffer a body crushing hug from the woman. She did her best to be gentle and she had a good heart, but the simple fact was that Denetta didn't know her own strength. “Have you word?”
Denetta meant about Marcus of course. Whatever their relationship was, however you described it, April knew it was more than casual. In fact she wondered from time to time if the handmaiden had actually brought the bull to bear. Certainly she had never known Marcus to be with one woman for so long. And in truth the two were a match in many ways. Both of them were forces of nature. Berserk warriors on the battlefield and it would seem in the bed chamber as well.
Of course what that might mean for the longer term April didn't know. Would they wed? Have children? Could the next heir to the House of Barris be part demon? And would their father's heart finally stop beating permanently out of horror when he was told? He already disapproved of the relationship. In fact he'd had a number of lengthy talks with Marcus about the things that he expected of his new heir. Things that began with his finding a suitable wife and raising a family. Marcus of course had simply left to go to war leaving things unresolved.
“He's fine.” April told the demoness what she wanted to hear after she released her, and then followed her inside the fort. There of course she had to face the next victim of the war as Kyriel was already there boiling water for tea.
She was stoic as ever, her expression carefully reserved, determined to always appear the warrior that she was. Just as she was when she taught her the art of pistols and swords. But April knew that behind that calm demeanour Kyriel was upset. She was angry with Edouard for what she considered his recklessness. In her eyes Edouard was not a soldier. And while he might have a useful skill in his magic, he was also wounded. That would slow him down. It would make
him vulnerable. It would get him killed.
Kyriel didn't want that. She might not show it – least of all on the training grounds where she drilled April every day – but she was a woman as well as a warrior, and she cared for her big brother. Kyriel just had absolutely no idea how to express her feelings. And at a guess, every time she tried to she got flustered and ended up scolding Edouard for something. Meanwhile Edouard was completely blind to her charms. But April knew it wasn't because he didn't see her. It was because he had long ago accepted that he would never marry. He thought a life of solitude was better than the alternative. He did not want to be wed to a stranger as part of some alliance between houses.
Marriages for the House of Barris were all about alliances, as they were for most of the nobility. Edouard was too far down the line to inherit, and because of that he was also too far down to be considered a worthy husband by those houses the House of Barris might want to ally with. But at the same time Father would never have allowed him to wed someone not of good station should he have found such a woman. It might demean the house and he had already suffered three misfires with his three older children. Simon had refused point blank to wed anyone, Marcus looked most likely to wed a demoness and Leona had eloped with a soldier.