The Unexpected Heir: A Tale of Alus

by Wigboldy,Donald

  Waving him off with her left hand as she did her best to hide the right while it continued to mend, Annalicia said, "I will be alright. It is messier than it looks. How is the ship and crew?"

  Reynolvan and Ivanor had heard Captain Delfren before seeing the girl. Both men hurried over, but Anna silenced them raising her left hand palm towards them.

  "Are we still ready for battle?" she clarified for the others. "There is still a second ship and the first might choose to help them even if they are hurting."

  Seeming to snap out of his shock, Delfren replied, "I've sent men below deck to check for damage, but the Sea Dragon appears to be in nearly one piece." His eyes looked to where Annalicia had stood on the foredeck and added, "The rail where you stood seems to be the only real damage that we've taken. If you are sure that you are fine, then it looks like you took the worst of it. They only got three passes off before they had to run and the wizards caught most of the cannonballs."

  "I am fine. We should pursue the wounded vessel, if everyone else is safe. We can handle a single ship, but I'd rather not see if we can take on two."

  Reynolvan glanced in the direction of the enemy ship's flight and suggested, "We could run and see if the second ship will take care of the first. They also might see the damage that they took and second guess testing us again."

  "Or they might choose to attack us together. We can only protect one side at a time. Splitting our defenses will certainly get us all killed," the girl replied sternly. "No, we need to take out the one that is wounded or drive it away long enough to deal with the second ship alone."

  Ivanor appeared to think about the idea and said, "If I were on land, I could draw lightning to a place of earth. An accurate lightning strike could take out a mast and likely do enough damage to keep them from trying anything more."

  Turning towards the foredeck, Anna considered the idea and nodded. "Chase them, captain. I can use the water and the air to do the same thing to the enemy ship. We'll make sure that we face only one of the enemy, if we can catch them in time."

  Captain Delfren looked less certain of the plan, but he had seen the power of their magic and knew that it could do great things. He hurried to the helmsman's cabin to put in the order.

  "Jezra, if you have spare energy, give the ship a push. Once this is done, we will have to face the second enemy."

  The air wizard moved to an advantageous position and summoned a powerful breeze to fill the sails moving the Sea Dragon much faster than the damaged vessel ahead of them.

  With torn sails and lines, the red flagged enemy merely limped away. The Sea Dragon closed the distance and at less than half a mile, Annalicia began her spell. It was a power draining attack, especially from this distance; but it was well within her strength.

  When the searing white light appeared to zigzag in their vision, it still managed to strike the centermost sails. Annalicia had guided the power of the sky to the wood of the mast. Like the railing when it had been struck by the cannonball, the heavy timber appeared to just disappear in a flash. Only a nub remained on the deck which was damaged from the lighting as well.

  "There, that should do it," the girl declared with a sigh. She would need more food again, Anna thought to herself.

  It wasn't long after Annalicia had crippled the enemy's movement that the crow's nest called down about the second ship. Readying for a second battle, the Sea Dragon charged forward.

  Mirroring the flow of the first battle, the two ships crossed and crossed again firing everything that they had. Annalicia struck with her water attacks leaving them vulnerable to the freezing winds. Holding power over both elements, the wizard froze ship and men alike barely tempering her attacks. On the third pass, the enemy couldn't afford to take another round without doing damage; so they cast hooks and lines pulling the Sea Dragon to its side. If either ship had been more desperate, they might have still fired their cannon into each other at point blank range. While such an attack might cripple one or the other, it was as likely to take out both ships in the process.

  Instead, the red flagged attackers sent their men on lines swinging towards the Sea Dragon. Annalicia and Jezra used their wind spells to stop the men coming from the sails. They would have cut the lines and sails to keep the Sea Dragon from attempting to move, but the magical winds stopped their attempt. The other wizards cast the attackers back while Keith led Ryan, Welden and the remainder of their marines to repulse the few pirates to land on the deck. More of the Sea Dragon's crew rallied to join them and quickly the enemy found that this maneuver had been an unfortunate choice as well.

  Annalicia hurried forward through the remaining fighting and cast one of the blue mage shields making a glowing plank from the Sea Dragon to the slightly higher deck of the enemy. Three sailors rushed forward to take down the tiny girl thinking her easy prey. Lightning was guided from the sea over the railing catching all three men throwing them back where they writhed on the deck.

  Her dance began as she pulled the wind to her. It whipped around cast by her hands and swirled around her body throwing anyone back who dared to test the wizard.

  Three men strode forward dressed differently from the sailors. While their clothing might not easily identify them as wizards, the glow of their auras did to her eyes. Her chant changed and the winds grew colder. Frost formed on the deck and made the three men step back even as they tried to break her defenses.

  Like the spinning wind shield she had used in the tournament, these winds protected her from their attempts to kill her with their magic. Two used wind trying to break her shield, while the center wizard cast fire. The heat was welcomed to those who could feel it. Annalicia deflected the fire and threw it back. Air spells lost strength in their attacks and the girl used their own power against them.

  Her icy winds caught the man to the right. Her still bloody hands directed the attacks freezing the first target in place. His clothing was wet and turned to ice, while more formed from the air trapping the man's body. Unable to move, the wizard was neutralized. The wizard to the left gave ground, but Anna replicated the ice stopping him from running or fighting.

  Left with the fire wizard, the man never thought to thaw out his companions. He tried to fight the girl. His control over fire was substantial. She could tell that he was well trained; but when the wind wizard charged into his defenses scattering the fire with her winds, he was too shocked to fend off the smaller woman.

  A second spell cut off his oxygen suffocating him to sleep. As he slumped to the deck, Annalicia cast her eyes looking for anyone else wishing to fight. Keith and her guardsmen followed the wizard onto the deck followed by a dozen more sailors from the Sea Dragon. With her easy dismissal of their wizards, weapons dropped to the deck as the men placed their arms in the air in surrender.

  Chapter 35- Shadows on the Field

  The defeat of Fort Camden had been a hollow win for Caldrefan as the wizards and most of Malaiy's soldiers slipped away through tunnels. Less than a tenth of the remaining forces had bought the others time to disappear.

  Wind wizards spotted hundreds of riders fleeing north towards their next defensible position. Malaiy had spent money and time building up a system of defenses hundreds of years ago to keep their enemy at bay. Some of the forts had been reduced to skeleton crews just to maintain them for the day that alliances made by words should fail.

  No one was likely to have foreseen Tseult's fall and another enemy taking its place, but the ancient kings and those who followed had remained vigilant even so. The army of the brotherhood would be forced to fight for each inch of Malaiy even as Orlaan's armies moved to reinforce those who fell back saving their numbers as best they could.

  His fear spells hadn't been as powerful against those with knowledge of their safe escape in mind. Few could be controlled when their minds weren't weakened. Their magic brought down the walls of Fort Camden, but too late to frighten those few who had remained.

  His anger nearly made him kill these who would be f
odder for the next battle. To his surprise, the soldiers of Tseult that followed because of his magic had fought well and most had survived nearly two weeks of fighting from the river to the castle. The siege had been resisted by wizards and soldiers alike. While the former stopped his wizards from simply crushing their defense of stone, enemy archers rained arrows down on any other men who dared to attack the strong walls.

  The Malaiyan army would stall their push down the river to Solan for another two and half weeks as well. Ambushes and solid fortifications made them fight for every mile. Men fell on both sides. Wizards used their magic to hold the line for Malaiy, while the other side did their best to break it.

  His enemies would fight him by day and disappear in the night only to reappear at another holding point to fight them once more. By the time his army arrived at the first major city of Malaiy, Caldrefan was both mentally tired and irritated to the point that he needed to let the commanders take over for fear that his anger would make him do something stupid.

  Marq Itan was ready for him by then. A dozen warships patrolled his harbor while his army had set up fortifications more than half a mile from the solid stone walls of the city. Caldrefan could feel the wizards in the city and outside among the soldiers. Unable to get a true count, he could guess that every man that fell back had been joined by at least as many soldiers from Yalan.

  If he could break this army, Caldrefan had a feeling that no one would be able to stand against him until they reached Yalan. The king's mega city would be too large to fortify for every square mile and only certain strongholds had any walls. It would be even more vulnerable if he could completely destroy Orlaan's army here.

  While the weeks of battle had lowered the morale of his men, Caldrefan surprised the Malaiyans by showing patience as they waited beyond the attack range of magic or missile for three days. That was until a fleet sporting red flags appeared outside the harbor; they had waited and then his enemy was forced to look both ways. His attack could begin once more.

  The Sea Dragon had arrived in Solan a little over a week after their battle with the red flagged ships of the Brothers of the Blood. Their enemy's rebellion had yet to choose a name to distinguish themselves and Annalicia wondered if that meant that they feared that it wouldn't last. Her captives had been reluctant to give up any information at first, but time and magic worked to loosen their tongues.

  She found out about the rebellion led by the brothers and even learned that they wouldn't be satisfied with just northern Tseult. Their leader had promised to form a powerful new nation that would conquer Malaiy to remove the king and his family. Though no one in the fleet was high enough to know exactly how this would happen, they revealed enough to send the Sea Dragon to Solan as quickly as they could force the ship to carry them.

  They left the wounded enemy ships to fend for themselves, but took a pair of war chests as trophies. Without money, loyal sailors could turn against their captains and the wizards also, at least that was part of why she took their gold.

  Arriving in Solan ahead of the invasion, Annalicia had quickly gone to her uncle to warn him of what she knew.

  "Annalicia, I can't believe you are here. Where have you been for so long?" her uncle asked looking truly shocked to see his niece in his city. "Your father sent word to me months ago that your ship was very overdue."

  Sighing, the girl wondered how much of the long story she should spend bending his ear when she had news of an invasion coming. "It is a long story, uncle."

  "You know that you can just call me Itan. You were always my favorite niece, you know."

  "I will make sure that I tell Alicia," she couldn't help laugh as he winced.

  "Well, you're top two anyway. Now don't tell your sister that I said that," he laughed.

  Nodding, the petite wizard's distracted eyes must have tipped him off that something was wrong. "Tell me whatever you think you need to and we can catch up on the rest after. There is obviously something on your mind."

  Swallowing, Annalicia looked at the man seeing the resemblance to both her mother and Alexander in his looks. He had the dark blonde hair that defied the general looks of the Malaiy people. His blue eyes were like her mothers in color as well, though he managed to put a masculine spin on his siblings' looks.

  Itan had never been as close to his sisters as he had been to their children. Fifteen years younger than Serafene, he was only two years older than his nephews. Alexander and Bartrand had been born the same year. They were six years older than Annalicia, who was the baby among the cousins, making them all quite close to their young uncle.

  "We came across a pair of ships with red flags a little over a week ago and defeated them in battle. Apparently, the Brothers of the Blood have led a rebellion and these ships serve them. They plan to invade Malaiy. We need to warn King Orlaan before it is too late."

  To her surprise, he was not. "They have already crossed into Malaiy and are fighting Fort Camden right now. The reports from the commander there aren't good. He doubts that they will be able to hold out for more than a few more days."

  "They can't stop them?" she asked in shock. Though Anna had been a little surprised that the brothers had apparently created a navy; hearing that their army was enough to break the ancient fort as well added to her worry.

  He shook his head. "Orlaan sent reinforcements to both the fort and here. The army has been setting up defenses from Camden to Solan making sure to do as much damage as they can as they fall back. It will give us more time to prepare, but Xerese brought us word that they have powerful wizards in their army. They defeated a superior force from Tseult, at least numerically."

  "Why was Xerese in Tseult?" Anna questioned in confusion. The Zephyr wasn't scheduled to stop before Solan if the trip went well.

  Itan chuckled at her surprise and said, "Her story might be as long to tell as yours. The Zephyr was shipwrecked north of Kloste and she had to travel across all of Tseult with just one guardsman."

  She went white with the news. "By the gods, no one else survived?"

  Shaking his head, her uncle's happy features darkened as he replied, "None have made it here if they did. The Zephyr never wound up in Malaiy, so your father had no idea what happened to either of you until Xerese wound up here. I sent word to Alexander and to Philip through him. At least they knew that you were delayed by some mission, but she didn't really know much about it."

  "That is part of my long story, but perhaps you should tell me more about these wizards the brotherhood is using. I might have a few new tricks that I can teach to our wizards here in time to turn the enemy around."

  "Well, that would be good news indeed. Come, we'll eat dinner while I send for my commanders and the leader of the wizards sent from Yalan. They took charge of my wizards and sent out more to help Camden before the enemy laid siege to the fort."

  After a meal with Itan and Rianne, Annalicia sent word for Reynolvan and the others to meet them in a hall set aside for the war. Wizards and commanders within the army were there as well. After they informed her team of what they knew, it was Annalicia's turn to surprise them with some of the magic learned traveling with Sebastian.

  Philip sat in his study his body gone limp with relief. Alexander had sent word that Annalicia was in Solan. While Solan was in danger of being attacked after the defeat of Fort Camden, he could at least be happy that his daughter was alive and well. The Sea Dragon was apparently in one piece also, but there was little said about such things.

  In fact, his message was quite long considering Itan had sent word by messenger bird to speed the news along. Alexander's letter was a lot longer than a single note attached to a bird's leg. His letter even told of the fact that three carnal gulls had been used by Itan to give them as much information as his brother-in-law could in a short time.

  A short message written by Annalicia directly to her family telling them that she was well and teaching new magic discovered by her friends in Southwall to Malaiy's wizards, had apparently been se
nt on one bird. She relayed what she could from Darius as well, but said she would explain more in a letter sent by horse. That would take at least a week longer most likely. The ride to Patris took much longer than the birds sent by Itan.

  The one thing that Darius believed was that the brotherhood had spawned from the revolution centuries ago that created Alwere. It was led by two immortal brothers. One was named Sordrian.

  He would have to tell Orlaan, but Philip's body refused to move at the moment. Alexander had let him know that he had sent word to his mother in Etrine's castle. She was still there with Alicia helping Lord Oland after the loss of his wife and son. He knew the news would help ease her as well.

  Their children were all alive and well, even if Anna had chosen to remain for a time in Solan where it might not be safe much longer. She was a wizard and lady of Malaiy, however, and her duty to save her country was apparent in her actions. Philip just hoped that she would stay safe.

  She had just over three weeks to teach the other wizards in Solan the spells which they had learned since the tournament. Night shields would stop most elemental spells and absorb them. It was perhaps the most important of the spells that they could teach their fellow wizards. Since Annalicia had never heard of Tseult wizards using the darkness spells; it should give them an edge in the battle. Light magic could dissipate the darkness, of course, but then it became a chess game using the variety of magic to counter each spell used.

  If the enemy had no knowledge of either darkness or light spells in their magic, the Malaiy wizards would certainly have the edge.

  Annalicia had also found out about the fear magic used by the enemy. It was believed that a powerful wizard was the sole user and cause of the magic. They believed that it was a form of mind control magic. Southwall wizards broke down the forms of magic used into special categories and called this diplomacy magic.