by Peter Last
“It’s magic,” Timothy answered her unspoken question without even looking at her. “I’m not exactly what you would call a normal person. I’m a magician. I can work magic. Just as Lemin can. Now prepare yourself; the dwarves are coming.”
Senndra was stunned by what she had just heard. And Timothy wanted her to get ready to fight? “He expects me to just turn around with a cool head and fight after what he just said,” she growled to herself. Without taking her eyes off of the dwarves, she placed the arrow in her hand on her bowstring. “I guess I’ll just have to make him tell me all about his being a magician later,” she decided. She loosed several arrows at the approaching enemies then slung her bow on her back and drew her sword. The dwarves broke into a run and charged toward her between two buildings.
“Now,” Lemin said calmly, and suddenly, the buildings gave a mighty groan and collapsed inward on the dwarves. Buildings across the city, all the way to the south wall, began to collapse, one after the other, until a wall separated the dwarves from the defenders.
“That will stall them for a while,” Lemin said, “but not forever. We need to get back to the main army and help them stave off the dwarves from the north.” He broke into a run, and Timothy and Senndra followed. They tore across the city to where they could see a vicious fight in progress. The cadets and soldiers of Magessa were holding the dwarves back, but just barely. Every instant it seemed as though the mass of enemies would break through the line and crush the resistance, and yet they never quite managed it.
“They’re holding the dwarves back, but we need to repel them entirely,” Lemin gasped to his companions. “Get into the fight and rally the troops. If we can’t push the dwarves back, we will fall in short order.” He sprinted to a point along the defenders’ line where the dwarves were especially thick and began to hack his way through them. A small explosion rocked the enemies around him, sending them flying in all directions.
Timothy sprinted to another point on the line of defense and began to attack with renewed vigor. Senndra followed close behind and saw him engage the enemy. His sword swung wildly, but in such a way that it blocked the blows aimed at him. The dwarves around him tried again and again to push him back, but to no avail. From the ranks of the dwarves, a dwarf giant came out to challenge him. The giant was six feet tall and was well-muscled. In his hands he carried a battle ax that had to weigh at least fifty pounds, yet he held it as though it was a toy. He approached Timothy from the side so that he did not see him coming. With a roar, he swung his ax at Timothy, aiming for his waist. But Timothy heard the roar and, with superhuman reflexes, jumped over the blade and landed on his heel, spinning to face his attacker. With his free hand, he began to make strange motions that ended with a thrust toward his opponent. Blue lightning shot from his fingers and hit the dwarf giant in the chest. The blow knocked the soldier to the ground, and he lay there twitching as sparks continued to spider web across his body. Timothy ended his suffering with a quick thrust of his sword. He turned to face the dwarf horde again, but they had retreated just far enough to get out of the range of his sword. He thought he could detect fright on the faces of some of his enemies, but he knew that he needed to drive the stake of fear deeper into their hearts. With a slight motion of his hand, he sent a fire ball careening into the enemy soldiers, causing them to turn in panic and scramble to get away.
Timothy wiped his sword blade on the cloak of one of his fallen foes. He rose to his feet and replaced it in its sheath before returning to the defenders’ line. He walked over to Senndra and just looked at her.
“Now, why don’t you tell me what you forgot to tell me before?” she said, a slight edge of irritation in her voice.
“And what do you think there is to tell?” Timothy responded. “I already told you everything. I am a magician as is Lemin.”
“You don’t have anything else to say for yourself?” Senndra shot back.
“What do you want me to say?” Timothy questioned. “There's nothing to explain.”
“How about telling me why you…” But Senndra was cut off by Lemin, who had just approached the two cadets. In the battle, the pendant had come loose from his shirt and was now resting on his breastplate.
“Timothy, nice show of power out there,” he commended. “If it weren’t for you, I would never have been able to collapse the buildings on time. You also used your power admirably while fighting. Remember, however, that you must only use it as Elohim commands; never use it for your own gain. If you are confused at all on the point of whether you are to use magic or not, don’t use it.”
Senndra had been sputtering throughout this whole speech, but now found her voice.
“And you!” she said turning to Lemin. “You’re a magician too? Why did I not know this? And isn’t that my father’s pendant?”
"I would like nothing more than to explain this to you," Lemin said, "but it's a long story that would take a lot of time to tell."
"I've got time," Senndra said.
"We need to prepare for the next dwarf attack," Lemin countered. "I don't have the time right now."
"Then make time," Senndra said and crossed her arms.
Lemin glanced over his shoulder at the retreating dwarves, then back to Senndra. She was glaring at him, and it was evident that she would not be put off. Also, in a way, he owed her an explanation.
"Alright, I'll try to keep this short," he said. "I don't remember all of it and there are some parts that I do not wish to repeat, but in a nutshell this is the account you're looking for. I don't tell anyone that I'm a magician because I don't like magic." He gave a humorless laugh and amended, "More correctly, magic doesn't like me."
"What do you mean?" Senndra asked.
"I've used magic many times in my life and every time I do it seems to lead to something terrible," Lemin said. "As a child I had a run-in with some very bad wizards and it's followed me for the rest of my life. It seems a curse that I cannot shake is following me. Anyway, when the dwarves attacked, I suspected that I would need to use my magic again, but I wasn't ready to accept it. That's why I gave you the pendant and did not keep it for myself. I now understand that all available resources need to be brought to bear against our foe, which is why I have reclaimed the pendant. I am resolved to use my magic no matter the consequences; if I do not, we may all die."
"I still don't get it," Senndra said. "Is the pendant magical? Why do you need it?"
"The pendant is hard to explain," Lemin said. "It is not magical, do not make that mistake, but I still require it to use my power. Let's just say that it keeps the curse at bay."
"The curse from your childhood?" Senndra asked. Lemin nodded.
“Look Senndra,” Timothy said after a pause, “I know that you’re not happy right now, even I'm a little miffed at Lemin right now, but we have bigger problems at the moment. Like now that we have driven the dwarves back, what are our plans?”
“I have conferred with the general of the army of Saddun,” Lemin answered. “All of the stairs to the southern wall have been destroyed, so the only way up is by the gatehouse. We were originally planning to protect the gatehouse from the ground, but we have decided that we don’t have enough time. Instead we’re going to get everyone onto the wall and defend it from on top. You had better get moving. We need everyone on the wall before the dwarves put together another attack.”
“Well, I have at least until we get on top of the wall to talk,” Timothy told Senndra. “I can answer any questions that you have and I’m sure that there are a lot.”
“That’s okay,” Senndra answered. “I don’t really want to talk to you right now.”
“Oh come on,” Timothy said. “I just met you. Did you really think that I was going to tell you every last deep dark secret about myself? I try to get to know people before I give them a reason to mistrust me.”
“You’re a magician,” Senndra retorted. “What’s not to trust?”
“Molkekk’s a magician,” Timothy pointed out.
“Even so,” Senndra said. “I would have thought that with something this big you would have told me.”
“And all of the while your response is justifying my actions,” Timothy countered.
“I’m done with this conversation,” Senndra said and stalked toward the wall. Timothy rolled his eyes and started walking, making sure to stay a few steps behind. In battle and in dealings with others he knew when to attack and when to fall back. This was definitely the time for a strategic withdrawal. He’d give her time to cool down before he attempted to speak with her again.
******
Josiah looked down from the tower in which he and his men had taken refuge. Two hours had passed since the army had moved onto the wall, and in those two hours, the advance of the dwarves had come to a complete standstill. At first they had tried to force their way up the stairs of the gatehouse, but to no avail. Next they had tried battering the gate down, but these efforts were met with a barrage of arrows and rocks on the rams that were being used. The dwarves had even brought siege engines up to destroy the wall, but the defenders' ballistae were able to foil this attempt. After being defeated for the third time, the dwarves had fallen back to the middle of the city, which was where Josiah saw them now. They had set up field hospitals and were caring for their wounded. They appeared to be happy, at least for the moment, to wait out the defenders. They knew that there were probably no provisions on the wall, and they would gladly starve out the defenders. What they didn’t know was that reinforcements would soon be coming to the aid of their enemies. Josiah looked toward the south and saw a small cloud of dust rising from the plain outside of the city. He motioned for one of his captains, and Stanslaw approached him.
“Take a look at that and tell me what you think it is,” Josiah said and pointed to the cloud of dust.
“It’s definitely a rider,” Stanslaw commented. “If I had to guess, I would say it is the advanced messenger of our reinforcements.”
“That’s what I was thinking as well,” Josiah said. Together the two cadets watched as the horseman covered the distance to the city. Within thirty minutes of the first sighting, the man was at the foot of the wall, and Josiah ordered a rope to be lowered to him. The man nimbly climbed the rope and was hauled over the wall’s crenellations.
“Get this man some water,” Josiah ordered one of his men. To the messenger he asked, “What news do you bear?”
The man looked Josiah straight in the eye and said nothing for a while. A soldier arrived with water, and the messenger drank it before responding. “Only this news,” he finally said, “our governor at Feling has decided not to send any reinforcements to help. There will be no army from him."
“What do you mean?” Josiah exploded. “You are telling me that the elders of Gatlon have laughed at our request for help? Don’t they know that if this city falls, the enemy will almost definitely overrun Magessa?” He turned away from the messenger and stalked down the wall.
“It was not my decision,” the man tried to explain. “If it was up to me, the whole army of Magessa would be coming to your aid. As it is, there seems to be some treachery in the ranks of Gatlon’s authority.”
“After this is all over, you can be sure that someone will look into that,” Josiah said, turning back to the messenger. “For right now, though, there are more pressing matters at hand. I’ll arrange for food to be brought to you before you leave.”
“I’m not leaving, sir,” the man replied. “I said that if it were up to me the whole army of Magessa would be coming this way, and I meant what I said. I don’t have that power, but I’ll be staying here to fight.”
“So be it,” Josiah answered. “If you will come with me and repeat what you have told me to the general, you can be finished with that and start preparing for battle. By the way,” he added, “I don’t know your name.”
“My name is Petrarch Bentinck, but I am called Petra by my friends. I am curious, however. Why do you think the dwarves won’t attack again for a while?” he asked as the two men started down the wall together.
“When we retreated to the wall, they attempted attacking us several times,” Josiah explained. “We were able to repel them, and they sustained such great losses that they have not attempted to attack us since. We will still keep our guard up, of course, but now our plans are focusing more toward attacking them.”
“Was I informed correctly when I was told that this battle only started this morning?” Petra asked. When Josiah nodded, he continued. “Why are you already thinking about a plan of attack? I mean, it never hurts to be aggressive, but I have never heard of an aggressive attack so soon into a siege.”
“But this isn’t your normal siege,” Josiah answered. “The battle may have started only this morning, but the enemy has already taken the city. Normally, the siege would be over at this point and we would all be dead, but then again, I have never put too much stock in normal warfare. Anyway, the reason we’re thinking of a counter attack already is that we have no supplies. We had most of our resources in the city, and we were pushed back too quickly to take many of them with us, so we have less than three days’ worth of food. We are in control of the gatehouse, so we control the gate; but that doesn’t mean that we can use it. Any attempt to bring anything in that way would result in a dwarf attack. If we had to, we could always resort to lifting stuff up the wall by ropes. But as it is, we have nothing to lift. We were supposed to get supplies with our reinforcements, but…” Josiah sighed. “Well, you know better than I what our support is.”
“Yes,” Petra said after a few moments. “The situation is indeed grave and calls for drastic action. Perhaps an immediate counter attack would be best.”
Josiah stopped in front of the door to another tower, and Petra halted behind him. Josiah stepped up to one of the guards and spoke a few words in an undertone to him, and the guard led him and Petra through the door and into the tower. The interior was pitch black, but the guard quickly lit a lantern and placed it on a table in the middle of the room. Without a word, he left the tower, closing the door securely behind him.
“You might as well make yourself comfortable,” Josiah told Petra. “Apparently the general is attending to other matters at the moment, so the guard is going to get him. If I have learned anything in my academy years, it is that the general rarely hurries. We could be here for a while.”
As Petra took a seat at the table, Josiah took the lantern and used it to explore the interior of the tower. He found a tinder box and proceeded to light several more lanterns that were scattered about the room. When he had finished, there was a fair amount of light, so he returned to the table and took a seat across from Petra. As had become his habit in the last several hours, he sat almost perfectly still and began to pray to Elohim. He was so caught up in his prayer that he was startled when the door opened and the general entered. Josiah and Petra jumped to their feet and saluted the officer, holding the salute until he returned it. The officer walked across the room to the table and took a seat behind it as Josiah moved to stand beside Petra.
“And what is the purpose of this meeting?” he asked when he was comfortably seated.
“This is a messenger from Gatlon, sir,” Josiah answered. “He has some news that I thought you should hear.”
“From Gatlon,” the general muttered to himself. “You may speak,” he said out loud to Petra.
“There will be no reinforcements from Gatlon,” Petra responded curtly. He waited for an outbreak from the general, but none came, so he continued. “I believe there is some treachery among the ranks of the authority of Gatlon. I only heard about your plight because I am the doorkeeper of the elders’ council chambers.
“As soon as the meeting adjourned, I went home as quickly as possible and told my brothers and father about it. Immediately we set off, each in a different direction. My father, who is quite old, stayed at home, while my brothers left to take the news of the attack to Belvárd, Rampön, the ogres, and the elves. I c
ame here to warn you that no help is coming unless my brothers succeed in bringing it.”
“The news is grave indeed; however, you have softened it sufficiently,” the general said. “The hope of any help at all is enough to keep us fighting until we drop dead one way or another. Even if there was no help coming, we would still give our lives to protect the country, and even the slightest chance of help is enough to keep us going.” He turned to Josiah and said, “Commander Pondran, make sure this man gets on his way without anything hindering him.”
“If it’s all the same to you, I will stay and fight alongside your men,” Petra spoke up, cutting off General Uriah. “This is my country as much as it is anyone else’s, and I intend to do everything in my power to keep it free.”
“Very well. It matters not to me whether you leave or stay to die with us. Do what you wish. Commander Pondran will attend to your needs and will be your commander if you wish to stay.” The general opened the door of the tower and was gone.
“Well, let’s get back to where my men have taken up residence, and I’ll get you settled in and suited up,” Josiah said. He led Petra out of the tower, extinguishing the lanterns on the way. The two men headed down the wall, talking as they went. Suddenly Petra pulled up short and pointed out into the city.
“You don’t have any sentries out there, do you?” he asked.
“Of course not,” Josiah answered. “That would be suicide.”
“Exactly,” Petra answered. “Then those moving forms out there are the enemy, and they’re heading this way.”
“Where?” Josiah asked as he lifted a hand to protect his eyes from the sun.
“Between those two buildings,” Petra said and pointed to two storehouses near the southern gate. He turned back to Josiah for a comment, but Josiah was already moving, sprinting down the wall. He shouted to everyone as he went that another attack was coming.
“Well, I guess he saw them too,” Petra muttered to himself and headed after Josiah. He caught up to him and stopped when he saw that Josiah was talking to several other men.