by David Wind
“You were right,” Nosaj said, looking up at Roth. “They wait for first light.”
“With no moon, and the stars obscured by clouds, they are invisible from the keep above. She wants no one to see them yet. It takes what, twenty minutes to race up the slope to the keep? She expects no forces other than the usual guards stationed at the keep, so she is over confident.”
“But as soon as we show ourselves, she will join the fight.”
“Here is my suggestion.” Using a slim piece of charcoal, he marked on the map.
“There will be three thousand, maybe more, but all afoot. Let the first fighters who land, come forward. We do nothing. Let them charge up the slope. When the next wave comes, let them get deep into the tar. Send a flight of fired arrows in. We’ll need these archers close so it is not a high arc to warn the sorceress. At the same time, the foot soldiers and half the archers will attack the first wave.”
Enaid pointed to a spot on the left flank. “I will take one group, Inaria the other.”
He paused, studying the rough map. “The remaining mounted troops will be stationed on the flanks as well, half on each side. If the sorceress is able to control the fire and shut it down, the surface of the tar may slow the troops. At that point, the mounted warriors will attack, crushing the foot soldiers between them. The archers will reinforce the mounted by picking targets.”
He looked up, his eyes sweeping from Enaid to Inaria. “The two of you, with your Women of Power will contain the sorceress; hold her powers down so she cannot join the fight.”
“It sounds too easy,” Nosaj said, two fingers and a thumb rubbing his jaw.
“Nothing about this will be easy. There are too many factors. We are half their number. If the fire does not stop them, then a battle it will be, and as such, nothing can be predetermined.”
“What bothers you?”
Nosaj continued to rub his jaw. “If she is able to stop the fire before it fully ignites, then those soldiers will join the first wave above them before we reach them, and we will have to go through the tar after them. If that happens, she might very well ignite the tar with our riders within.”
Roth studied the map carefully, rethinking his estimates of the timing. “If the first wave starts off as soon as the other boats arrive, they will be through the tar just as the second wave starts up. After three days, the surface of the tar will hardened, yes?” he asked Nosaj.
The Prince nodded. “It is as we spoke of before you left. The tar on the surface hardens into a…a skin; the oil below remains as a liquid soaked into the ground. The arrows have enough force to crack the surface; the heads of those first arrows are made of a heavier metal, the tips as sharp as a knife. They will penetrate the formed tar and let out enough of its oil to catch fire. Wherever the fires start, the tar skin will soften and catch.”
“If the sorceress stops the fire, then the surface remains solid?”
“It does.”
“Good!” He stabbed a finger to the map. “We reposition the mounted troops here and here,” he said, pointing to the forward edges of the tar. If she controls the fire, then the archers pick them off as they charge forward. Before they reach the first wave, we sweep in and fight between the tar and the others. We stay off the tar as much as possible.”
“It becomes a smaller battlefield, harder to maneuver kraals.”
Roth smiled and clasped Nosaj’s shoulder. “Then, with some luck, we will have taken out enough to make it an even fight, and we do so on foot.”
“Roth, I will give you this, you are a grand optimist.”
His brows furrowed as he listened to Nosaj. “Is there another way to be?”
<><><>
The barest line of demarcation showed on the horizon, now outlined by the shapes of the mountains across the lake when Enaid stepped next to Roth and slipped her arm around his waist. “Soon we will have to go. This will be unlike any battle you have yet fought. Steel and arrows are one thing, dark magic is another. Be careful, she has many Women of Power with the fighters of Morvene.”
He looked into her eyes, which were at the same level as his. “For possibly the second time in my life, I have something worth living for and I will not lose you by falling on this field.”
“Make certain of it.” She paused. “What was the first time?”
He laughed. “One thing has not changed in three thousand years…a woman’s need to know all.”
“And?”
“The first time I had something to live for, was when I went into space to try and make certain that there was a future for…humanity, which, seems to have caused the second.”
She leaned forward and kissed him lightly as he heard his name called from behind.
Before he could move, Enaid grasped his forearm. “May your feet be swift, your sword true, and your way safe.”
Roth took her forearm in his hand, and gripped her as tightly as she gripped him. “And yours, my Princess. Stay alive…for me.”
Before either could move, a man burst through the bushes, his eyes wild, his hair bouncing with every step. Two of Nosaj’s guardsman caught up with him and, a moment later, brought him to Nosaj, who was half a dozen steps away from Roth and Enaid.
The man bowed before Nosaj, then stood. “My Lord,” he began, his breathing forced.
“Easy, Sunil, breathe easy,” Nosaj said.
The man nodded, took several more breaths and said, “The fighters…they are not…not men.. They are…ghazi.”
Roth looked at Nosaj, but Enaid caught his arm and squeezed hard. “Say nothing.”
He stayed silent, and listened intently to what was said.
“How is this possible? How could she have—” Nosaj bit off his words. “This is bad.”
Nosaj’s words grew distant as Enaid leaned close and whispered in his ear.
“The slaves of the Dark Masters are not…human. This changes everything,” Enaid said.
“Why? Do they not die? Do they have powers?”
She met his gaze openly. “They die, but not easily. They feel no pain. They fight on even when mortally wounded. The Dark Masters breed them. They are…not really men or women, but I think they once were.”
“They are no more than we, are they?
“Except for the fact they know not what real life is, so they have no fear of death.”
Roth nodded at her words, realizing the ghazi were the mutations he had seen through the viscous layers of mist and clouds covering what remained of Europe; they were the inhabitants he had seen on the probe’s recordings before landing.
Turning from the man, Nosaj came over to Roth and Enaid. “Have you fought the ghazi before?”
Roth’s eyes locked on Nosaj as the prince’s voice matched the worry on his face. “She has brought the ghazi, the creatures of the Dark Masters. We must make changes to our plans,” he said, his words an echo of what Enaid had just told him.
“It changes nothing. We have a responsibility to protect Morvene,” Roth said. His voice was low, his eyes narrowing. He reached across, grasped the young prince’s shoulder, and pressed the muscles firmly. “We will do this,” he said in a low and quiet voice,
Nosaj hesitated, then his muscles relaxed beneath Roth’s firmly pressing fingers and he gave Roth a shadowy smile. “We will. And you still advise we maintain the same plan, regardless of who we now face?”
Roth looked from Nosaj, downward to where the ghazi were forming into ranks in preparation for their attack. “We have no choice, my Prince, with a few necessary modifications it will work out. But one thing remains the same—we must stop them here and now.”
The muscles on his face lost some tension. “Many of our people have never seen a ghazi. Not for the past ten years has there been an attack by them. Nevertheless, they have heard of them, and many will be frightened. I must lead the first charge.”
Roth took in his words, spun them though his mind, and nodded solemnly. “By example does a true leader, lead. I shall be at y
our side.”
They turned together to look at Enaid, who was kneeling with one arm around her aoutem. A moment later she stood. “I have warned our Women of Power. They are preparing themselves. What changes are to be made?”
Roth looked down the mountainside, gauging the distance to the tar field. “All remains the same for you,” he told her. “You and the women must focus on their Women of Power. You must try to block the Black One, so she cannot stop the fire.”
Roth turned to Nosaj. “Have twenty of your best archers work their way toward the shore. Have them concentrate their arrows wherever the Black Sorceresses is, be it on land or on a boat. If she is on a boat, have them use flame as well. Instead of the riders following the foot soldiers to the first wave, we will use the mounted warriors to lead the attack on the first wave of ghazi. The foot troops must follow quickly behind.”
He paused and looked about. “We have an advantage. We have the higher ground, which means we will reach them at a charge. Our kraals will wreak havoc on them. The ground troops who follow will finish them.”
“What if the tar fields do not fire? What if she stops it?”
“Then we keep fighting. Let the captains know that if the tar does not ignite, they are to join us on the field after we are through the first wave of ghazi. If we destroy the first and second waves, the last will be hard put to resist us.”
Enaid stepped between them. “Ride safe, ride strong,” she told Roth, turned and repeated the words to Nosaj before darting off to meet the other women.
While they had talked, the captains of Freemorn, Morvene, and the Free-Blade companies had formed behind them. As soon as Enaid left, both Roth and Nosaj turned to them. “You heard?”
Their nods, and the tautness of their faces, were answer enough. Then Nosaj pointed toward the lake. “The first boats come ashore.”
“Everyone is in place?”
“They are.”
“Make certain the troops are aware of the change in plans. Hold them strong and we will rule the day.” Roth paused, sweeping his eyes across each of their faces. “Tell that to all of your people.”
“May your feet be swift, your sword true, and your way safe,” Nosaj added before the captains raced to their troops.
Turning, Roth squinted in the low light and scanned the area. The sparse growth of trees helped to hide their troops, but he was able to make out most of their soldiers. The riders were off to the side, far enough back and on the flanks to be hidden from the shore.
The foot soldiers were set, every man and woman kneeling or sitting. Not a single body stood, making them almost invisible. The two main sections of archers were in place, hidden behind tall grasses of the mountainside. A small group broke off and started toward the shore. There was some movement further down, where several women, armed with bows, worked their way lower. On the slope, Regit, Enaid’s aoutem, wove between trees and bushes while the hundred kraal riders went to their positions in front of the ground troops.
Several minutes later, Roth and Nosaj knelt at the forefront of their troops; their battle-trained kraals lay on the ground next to them so that no outline of the animal would show below. Behind the two leaders, a hundred fighters knelt next to their kraals as the first wave of the Black Sorceress’ troops raced up the hills, unheeding of the hard tar beneath their feet.
The instant the ghazi reached the tar field, adrenaline kicked hard into Roth’s bloodstream. His heart pounded and his muscles tensed. When the ghazi reached the untarred ground, Roth raised his arm. When the last of the first wave of attackers left the tar field, and the next wave entered, Roth dropped his arm in signal. A heartbeat later, a flaming arrow rose in the air and, as it descended, a thousand throats released their battle cries and the Nevaens charged forward.
Roth’s kraal rose as did Nosaj’s and the two men mounted and urged the kraals forward, long swords at the ready. With perfect timing, and only a hundred feet between themselves and the oncoming ghazi, a dozen flaming arrows curved low through the night sky, dropping into the tar field.
Fiery flumes shot upward at the point of each arrow’s penetration, and as quickly as the fires rose, they flashed out. The Nevaens sent burning shafts into the tar three more times: three more times did the Black Sorceress extinguish the flames.
While he could not see it, he knew that the other archers were raining shafts upon the Black Sorceress, but it seemed to have no effect as she continued to damp out the flames.
Then Roth reached the first of the ghazi and saw for himself, the ugly, deformed, and mutated creatures of which Enaid and Nosaj had spoken. Ignoring anything but their weapons, Roth charged into the dark armored mass, his sword flashing left and right, striking the creatures running at him. Behind the ghazi, came the second wave of kraal-mounted warriors.
A bolt of red lightning exploded off to one side, killing several ghazi and Nevaens. His kraal reared, and a ghazi charged forward, slamming his shoulder into the kraal’s raised chest. The kraal tumbled backward, and Roth was barely able to roll off as his mount crashed to the ground.
He hit the hard-packed rocky ground, rolled, and reached his feet with his sword at the ready as a half dozen of the dark creatures surrounded him. Without thought, he let his body dictate his moves and decapitated the first ghazi with a powerful swing of the sword. Even as the thing’s head rolled on the ground, Roth turned and swung at the ghazi charging his back.
He ducked beneath the creature’s swing and, rising, brought the sword in a quick crossways slice, the special metal cut through the chest armor from ribs to shoulder and, screeching madly, the ghazi fell in its tracks. The third fighter was almost on him when a crack of silver-blue fire struck the ghazi and threw him back into the oncoming mass of ghazi.
Roth didn’t have to look to know it was Enaid. The forth ghazi came low, a sword and a knife each pushing toward his chest. Roth sidestepped, spun, and struck the semi-human fighter in his bicep. The sharp edge of the sword cut through muscle, bone, and the arm and sword fell to the ground, but the creature kept coming, the knife swiping at Roth’s face.
He back stepped, countered, and kicked him in the groin. As the deformed warrior doubled over, Roth raised the sword high and pushed the tip deep into the back of the thing’s neck.
Spinning, he gripped the sword in both hands and faced the next attacker. But there were none close by. He had gone through the first wave, and a hundred feet ahead charged the second group of ghazi, a thousand strong.
Chapter 9
ROTH LOOKED TO his left as Nosaj came abreast of him, the prince’s sword coated with ghazi blood. Behind him came the charging footfalls of the Nevaen warriors. Roth leaned forward and pushed off with his foot, a yell forming deep in his throat as he charged at the oncoming creatures.
When he was within ten feet of the first line, a bolt of light and sound exploded, lifting him and anyone around him into the air, summersaulting them backwards into the Nevaens racing behind.
“Solomon!” he heard Enaid scream his name as he hit the warrior who was racing behind him.
Rolling off the man, he shook his head, trying to dislodge the ringing in his ears and the wooziness from behind his eyes. He pushed himself up from the ground, grasped the sword tighter and took a deep breath. The sun had crested the mountains across the lake, and for the first time he saw what lay ahead, and saw too, the woman-creature who stood in the midst of the ghazi.
The Black Sorceress may once have been a woman, but she no longer bore any similarity to one. A black and misshapen form stood in the center of the ghazi. Unnaturally taller than the ghazi or Nevaens, with broad, misshapen legs and long, dangling arms, she roared rage down at them. Horrendously deformed, what remained of her as a woman was evidenced by small sagging breasts visible beneath the wide mesh of her breastplate.
The distorted woman stepped forward and raised her arms again, her glaring eyes fixed on the charging warriors led by Roth. One long arm moved toward Roth, the palm of a seven-finge
red hand directed at him. Enaid moved sideways as the apparition sent a shower of red lightening toward him.
His stomach twisted at the distorted shape ahead of him, protected by a half-thousand ghazi, all moving uphill at the same pace, low guttural sounds emanating from their throats. He looked around. Dozens of Nevaen’s lay on the ground unmoving, their burning clothing and the smell of their flesh, stung his nostrils.
Screaming “No”, he raised his sword above his head in a two handed grip. A rage such as he had never known before consumed him. The anger blinded him to anything but the evil directing the ghazi army.
Through his growing fury, all he could see was the Black Sorceress and charged forward. To his left Nosaj ran with him; behind him the Nevaen’s rallied and followed. From both sides, the Women of Power, led by Enaid, raced to Roth and Nosaj’s sides.
The Sorceress released another bolt of red power, but this time the Nevaen women were prepared and shielded the warriors as the two lines met in a crashing of swords and knives. Enaid destroyed every ghazi who tried to swing at Roth with the streaking bursts of her silvery blue power: next to Nosaj, Ilsraeth did the same. Roth neither saw nor felt anything as he remained absolutely focused on the sorceress, his blade weaving a pattern of annihilation as his anger driven strokes cut through anything near. Not sword, nor armor, nor shield withstood his forward momentum.
He was a dozen feet from the sorceress when a sudden frenzy of ghazi surrounded her, circling her with tight packed bodies, and preventing anyone from getting close. At the same time, the kraal mounted warriors of Freemorn charged in from the flanks, cutting through any resistance as they fought their way to their prince.
Next to him, Enaid released silvery white streaks at the ghazi, blowing them from before Roth, who ran at full speed toward the Black Sorceress. To his left, Nosaj kept pace and between him and Nosaj, Inaria sent lightning bolts of blue with one hand, while the other simply pointed at a ghazi and the ghazi would fly backwards tumbling dead or unconscious into the others massed around their sorceress.