by Peter Last
“Right over there, Timothy,” Josiah said and pointed to the buildings that the dwarves had been between only moments ago. “I don’t know what happened to them. I can’t see them anymore, but you probably can.”
"Actually, it doesn't work like that," Timothy said. "I can only work destruction magic and not much else."
"I can affirm that there were dwarves gathering out there," Petra broke in. "If I had a guess, I'd say that they were getting ready for another attack, given that they'll have the cover of darkness. That is an obvious strategy."
“I’ll send word to the general and Lemin,” Josiah said and headed back the way that he had come. But Timothy stopped him.
"You take care of the general and then get ready for the attack," the magician said. "I'll tell Lemin."
“Very well,” Josiah replied. “Then I will get back to my men. Come, Petra.”
The two men ran down the wall, but not so fast as to tire themselves. They passed several groups of soldiers, and Josiah stopped for each of them and told them the news of the attack. Within several minutes, Josiah and Petra had reached Josiah’s company of men and informed them of the impending attack. There was a flurry of activity as the soldiers readied themselves for the fight. Josiah led Petra to a nearby tower. Weapons and armor were carefully stacked inside, so it took Josiah only a few minutes to find armor that fit the new soldier. He then turned to fetch a weapon as well, but Petra stopped him.
“I have my own weapon,” he said and drew a brilliant sword from the sheath on his belt. “This sword has been passed down from generation to generation in our family, and I intend to use it just as my ancestors used it before me.”
“Suit yourself,” Josiah shrugged. He strapped on his armor, grabbed his helmet from the rack where he had left it, and stepped out of the tower and onto the wall. His two remaining captains, Stanslaw and Yugart, approached him. All of their armor was firmly in place, and their weapons were ready to be drawn at a moment’s notice. The only thing that was missing from their battle uniforms was the helmet, which each of them held under one arm. They waited for Josiah to walk past and fell in behind him on either side. Josiah scanned the crowd of his soldiers that had taken less than five minutes to prepare for battle. He looked down the wall at several other groups who, even though they had received news of the attack earlier, were still not ready.
“They’ll be heading for the gatehouse, so we need to get there,” Josiah said. “The people down there aren’t ready for the attack, and it could come at any moment. Stanslaw, take your soldiers and cover the east side of the gatehouse. Yugart, get your soldiers and cover the west side. I’ll take the remaining men and plug up the stairs in the actual structure. I don’t want any ladders on the wall, so take them down if they get set up.”
Both captains hurried off to obey Josiah’s orders, and Josiah turned to face his men. Many had been cut down in battle, and several of those that remained were injured; but the fear that had been in their eyes at the beginning of the day was gone. In its place, there was a look of determination to defeat the dwarf horde and save Magessa.
“Companies one, three, and four please step out,” Josiah called. Two thirds of the soldiers stepped forward to distinguish themselves from those behind them. “Form ranks,” Josiah called, and in next to no time, the soldiers were in orderly lines. “You are now called company one. The rest of you will form groups of three, and your task will be to keep the walls clear of ladders. Company one, follow me.”
The company moved down the wall at a fast clip, passing soldiers who were struggling into their armor. They had soon gained the gatehouse and found another company of soldiers waiting there who were obviously ready to defend the stairs in the gatehouse.
“Company, halt,” Josiah ordered. The soldiers stopped marching simultaneously, and every soldier stood at attention. “Left face,” Josiah ordered, and each soldier spun on his left heel so that he now faced the city. “Draw swords and prepare for battle,” Josiah ordered before approaching the commander of the other company of soldiers. The sound of weapons being drawn followed him as he crossed to the other company. He quickly identified the commander and moved to stand in front of him. The other man saluted first, so Josiah returned the salute.
“I am Commander Pondran,” Josiah introduced himself. “I can see that you are a captain.”
“My name is Markus,” the captain replied.
“Do you have any previous orders from any of your superiors?” Josiah questioned. Markus shook his head, so Josiah continued. “How many men do you have at your disposal?”
“Around three hundred.”
“Excellent.” A shout from the city startled Josiah, and he quickly finished talking. “That should be more than enough to block one of the staircases of the gatehouse. I’ll block the other, and two companies of my men will protect our sides.”
Markus nodded and turned to his men to give commands. Josiah spun on his heel and headed back toward his troops. When he reached them, he looked out over the city and saw that the dwarves were already halfway to the gatehouse.
“Company one, close ranks,” he called, and his men moved so that they stood shoulder to shoulder. Josiah motioned with his hand, and the soldiers moved forward so that the front line was mere inches from the top of the gatehouse staircases. The front line lowered their swords so that no dwarf could get past them, and the second line prepared their weapons in case any of the first line should fall. Josiah looked out over the city again. The dwarves had almost gained the gatehouse, when a shower of arrows from the left and right cut down the front lines. Before another barrage could be attempted, the next line of dwarves reached the safety of the gatehouse and darted into the stairwells.
“They are coming,” Josiah called to his front line. “Be ready for them.”
Already, the sound of dwarf boots striking the stairs could be heard in the stairwell, and in less than a minute, the first dwarf stuck his head around the corner. He could not stop his forward momentum and rushed headlong onto the sword blades of the first line of defenders. His companions could have stopped themselves in time had they wished, but they continued their headlong charge, swinging their axes wildly. They met the same fate as the first dwarf. It seemed as though the dwarves would be easily repelled, until a swarm of crossbow bolts hit the defenders’ ranks, cutting down half of the first line and several of the other soldiers. More men stepped up to fill the places of their fallen comrades, and the dwarves were still unable to gain access to the wall.
From two towers, one on either side of the gatehouse, archers pelted the dwarf archers, driving them back to the relative safety of the buildings. While the missiles cut down less than a tenth of the enemy archers, they did drive them out of bow range. The archers were gone; however, their purpose had been accomplished. Their covering fire had allowed ladder men, ax men, and archers to gain the foot of the wall, where they could not be easily hit by the defenders. All along the wall, ladders were pushed up, and enemy infantry began to climb them. Pike men immediately rushed to shove them off, but the archers at the foot of the wall shot them as soon as they tried. The infantry on the wall prepared for the enemy to reach the top of the ladders, and all too soon, the dwarves were climbing up over the edge. The defenders hit the dwarves with a shout, shoving many of them off the wall and engaging the others. The ascending dwarves were outnumbered, but more reinforcements piled onto the wall every second. The defenders stoically held the dwarves back; however, the sheer number of dwarves began to overwhelm them. Slowly the dwarves pushed the defenders away from the edge of the wall, making room for more enemies to ascend.
The length of wall that the dwarves had placed ladders on was relatively small, so the defenders were able to retreat down the wall to the east and west, but this split them into two groups. Slowly the dwarves pushed the defenders further down the wall, making more room. Josiah and his soldiers bravely held their ground against the onslaught, but they were still being slowly forced b
ackward. Timothy, who found himself beside Josiah, was using every trick he knew to vanquish his foes, but there was no way that he could prevent them from taking more ground.
Josiah took a particularly rough blow from a dwarf and staggered backwards. Another cadet immediately took his place, leaving him free to observe the battle. Quickly his mind took in all of the details, and he struggled to come up with a prudent plan of action. He quickly searched the cadets around him and chose one that was nursing an injured arm.
“Go to the towers that have archers and tell them to fire on the dwarves on the wall,” he ordered the cadet. “If we don’t get these blivits off the wall soon, we’ll be in trouble.”
The cadet turned and ran toward the towers to carry out Josiah’s order. Josiah watched him push through the crowd and out of sight before turning his attention back to the battle. Another idea came to him, and he began to issue orders, rearranging his men into a new formation. On his command, an overload of cadets charged down the south edge of the wall. The wall was crenellated on this side, so the cadets did not fall off. Instead, the excess of cadets drove a wedge to the side of the dwarves that began to force them off the wall. The dwarves immediately saw what was happening and started a counter attack. They charged the cadets in front of them, but as soon as they left the edge of the wall, Josiah ordered another group of cadets around the north side of the dwarves, sandwiching them between two groups. The cadets closed the trap immediately, taking the dwarves by surprise and killing them quickly.
The cadets were intoxicated with their success; however, they had only crushed a very small group of dwarves. Several hundred more enemies still fought on the wall, and more climbed onto it every moment. Josiah glanced toward the towers with the archers. They were still firing toward the city, so he turned back to the fight before him. He located Timothy and pushed his way over to him.
“Is there any way that you can use magic to get the ladders off the wall?” he shouted over the ruckus of the battle. Timothy relinquished his spot in the action to another cadet and paused to think. After several moments, he headed toward the section of wall where the dwarves were still clambering up the ladders. When he had almost reached the front line of the fighting, he sheathed his sword and began to make strange motions with his hands, almost as if he were forming an invisible ball of something. From what little he knew, Josiah understood that Timothy was working his magic, so he plunged headlong into the fighting. He fought furiously for almost half a minute before he heard the fruit of that magic.
Starting near the west edge of the dwarves, a series of explosions began to work their way across the edge of the wall, splintering the ladders and flinging them back into the city. Concussive waves spread out from the blasts, flinging dwarves caught in their paths off of the wall.
Josiah raised his sword in victory and plunged into the dwarves that had been stunned by this use of magic. Seconds later, arrows began to rain down on the attacking dwarves, so the cadets fell back, attacking only to contain the dwarves to an area that made it easy for the archers to see them. Within five minutes, the last remnant of dwarves had been squashed.
******
Josiah leaned his head back against the wall of the tower and closed his eyes. It was night now, and his body, tired as it was from all of the fighting, desperately needed sleep. The events of the day had not been ideal, but they had ended on a somewhat victorious note for the defenders of Saddun.
After the dwarves had been driven off the south wall, they had ceased their attacks. Their casualties had been heavy, and they realized that they were up against a magician so powerful that none of their minor magic workers could challenge him alone. Had they known that there were actually two magicians, they probably would have left. But as it was, they were most likely trying to figure out how to draw out and kill Timothy.
Despite the fact that there had been no more attacks, Josiah was still physically drained. The fighting at the beginning of the day had exhausted all of the soldiers. Just standing lookout on the wall as the sun beat down in full force was grueling, and several soldiers had already dropped from heat exhaustion.
Josiah knew that if he fell asleep, he would not wake up until the next morning, so he forced his eyes open and got to his feet. In front of him, Lemin and Timothy sat playing a game that, according to them, was the magician’s equivalent to chess. When Josiah asked about it, Lemin tried to explain, but Josiah only caught bits and pieces of what was said. In theory, an infinite number of magicians could play it, but games were normally limited to no more than eight players. Games at official tournaments were restricted to two alliances, each with as many magicians as necessary. Each magician used a very small amount of magic to create an army, the size of which was determined beforehand. When the army was completed, it consisted of small soldiers made of magic, each of which was an example of an ideal soldier. They would react like real people; however, it was up to the magician to direct them in general battle formations and tactics. When both magicians had completed their armies, they would engage, each trying to outmaneuver the other. The name of the game, Josiah recalled, was Lex Tanna.
Josiah was very interested in the game, but it created a paradox in his mind. According to Lemin, a magician was to use his power only at the direction of Elohim, and Josiah could not believe that Elohim would direct someone to use magic to play a game. It was not until Lemin offered an explanation that Josiah finally understood.
“There are two kinds of magic in this respect,” Lemin had said. “There is magic that you never use unless directed to do so, and there is magic that you use unless directed not to do so. The magic that is not used unless directed to do so is normally impressive magic like causing a city to rise out of the ground. Most magic, however, is of the other kind; that is, you use it unless otherwise directed. For instance, magic can always be used for things that Elohim would approve of, like protecting yourself and your companions in battle. In this case, playing this game is keeping us sharp in our magical skills and military tactics, which definitely wins Elohim's approval.”
Josiah enjoyed watching the two magicians competing against each other, so he concentrated on it in order to stay awake. Lemin was clearly much more skilled at the game than Timothy, and though he had an army that was only one-fifth the size of Timothy’s, he still had the upper hand. It took him another five minutes to dismantle his opponent's army, but he did it with very little damage to his own. Lemin immediately launched into a detailed explanation of what Timothy had done correctly and poorly. Josiah moved to the window of the tower and looked south, searching for any sign of movement. Black, rolling fields met his gaze, and he turned away discouraged. He stepped out of the tower for a breath of fresh air, and the night chill hit him like a blow. He pulled his cloak about himself and started down the wall toward the section where his men were sleeping. As he went, he had to be careful to avoid sleeping soldiers that lay on the wall in a seemingly haphazard fashion; however, upon closer scrutiny, he could see that a path had been left for people to traverse the wall. As he neared the first lookout station, a familiar figure became visible: Petra Bentinck.
“Have you seen anything?” Josiah asked after the pleasantries had been given and received. “Not the slightest movement,” Petra answered, keeping his eyes on the city. “And that goes for both directions. There’s nothing to the north. Hold on a second,” he said. “Is that a light over by the north gate?” he asked, pointing in that general direction.
“It could be,” Josiah answered. “Why? Do you think you see something?”
“It could be nothing,” Petra answered, “but it looks like there are some dwarves leaving the city. I can’t be sure at this distance, though.”
“I’ll get Timothy and Lemin and see if they can help,” Josiah said, and in minutes they were at the lookout post, staring at the spot that Petra pointed out. Lemin snapped his fingers, and suddenly the sky grew lighter until it was almost as bright as day.
“Is it da
wn already?” asked Josiah in surprise.
“No,” Timothy answered. “Lemin has simply cast a spell that allows us to see as though it were day. Look well and tell me what you see.” Lemin waved his hand, and suddenly the north side of the city rushed toward the group until it appeared as though they viewed it from only a hundred feet away. Immediately Petra’s concerns were confirmed. Dwarves were streaming out of the northern gate in an exodus and turned west to march along the Apathy Range, leaving only enough dwarves to maintain a half-hearted siege for the defenders to fight against. The sound of fingers snapping returned the observers’ vision back to normal.
“What in heaven’s name is happening?” Petra asked.
“The bulk of their army, at least fifty thousand strong, is moving west toward Belmoth,” Josiah explained. “Belmoth has fewer soldiers than we do, and they’ll have no warning. There’s practically no way they’ll be able to withstand the attack.”
“We need to send them a message then,” Petra exclaimed.
“If we send one through Magessa, they’ll get there much too late to be of any help,” Timothy answered. The only way that we can possibly get to Belmoth before the dwarves is if we take the same route they are taking; however, we can’t do that until we destroy the dwarf army that is still in the city.”
“And the dwarves left enough soldiers to keep us from being able to easily destroy them,” Lemin finished.
“Exactly,” Timothy said. “Of course we have to try to get past them, but it will be very difficult, if not entirely impossible.”
“It’s not impossible,” Petra said.
“You’re correct,” Lemin said. “Given the correct strategy, we could destroy them.”
“That’s not exactly what I meant,” Petra tried to explain, but Timothy interrupted him.
“We actually wouldn’t need to destroy the whole army. We would only have to get a messenger past them.”