by J. P. Wagner
It was difficult to spread out in the woods, but the king’s forces did so. Then they descended on the rebels. The sound of their coming gave the enemy full warning, so they were well prepared. On the other hand, the rebels were outnumbered by a considerable amount, a fact they soon discovered and immediately took them to flight.
Their magician sought to gain them some time to flee by a spell calling up something that was mostly an illusion, but capable of physical effects as well. It was a large black wolf which shrugged off sword-blows or pistol-shots, but could savagely rend a man with its massive jaws.
Fortunately, Carrtog recognized it for what it was. He drew a pistol, said a spell-disbursement charm, and fired. The illusion was at long range for a pistol, but the charm, in effect, extended the range to reach the illusion it was directed at. Without any flashy effects, the wolf disappeared.
Carrtog drew a second pistol, spoke another charm, and fired it in the direction he believed the rebel magician to be. The discharge of the pistol came out in a cloud of tiny sparks, each of which grew as it flew to become a tiny person about the size of a man’s thumb carrying a sword that seemed to be about shoulder height on the person carrying it, though each tiny warrior brandished it with ease. The little glowing warriors flew on wings as colorful as those of a butterfly and each wore a tiny back-and-breastplate as well as a helmet. They dived and struck at the rebels, at their exposed hands, faces, and necks, and each stroke seemed to pain like the sting of a wasp, if the wasp were as quick as any real wasp and about the size of a man’s thumb.
Carrtog’s next move was to cast a spell to counteract any spell the rebel magician might cast. Being such a general spell, it might not work against certain specific spells, but it should give him a bit of breathing room.
Unfortunately, while he was taking that moment to decide which spell to cast next, the enemy magician fired a pistol of his own, and a moment later a frigid wind came blowing from the north carrying a cold rain that froze on the faces, hands, and clothing of the royal troops. It also blew away the lightly-built tiny winged swordsmen, freezing them in the air and dropping them to the ground.
Weather spells were not much used in battle because of the possible deleterious effects on the weather in the longer term. Carrtog was ready, however, not with a counteracting weather spell, but with a spell to counter the spell itself, making the cold wind fade away as if it had never been.
Carrtog then loaded a pistol as rapidly as possible and waited for the rebel magician to make his next move.
The magician’s next move was to draw back himself. The rebel troops continued to scatter and pull back with the royal troops in pursuit, but not allowing themselves to scatter too much for fear that the rebels might make a sudden rally and outnumber the royal troops at some specific spot. This left the rebel magician exposed, except for five men guarding him from mundane weapons.
The rebel troops were too scattered for any magic to be fully effective; using a spell against one to five men was a waste. However, using a spell against a magician could not be considered a waste, so Carrtog, after loading another pistol, cast a spell called Confusion to the Enemy. Its intent was to cause the enemy to see things that weren’t there, misjudge distances, stumble over things, run into things, and anything that might slow him or cause him to not act in his own best interest.
Carrtog was not surprised to see that only the magician’s guards suffered any confusion and only slightly at that. Carrtog himself had put strong defensive spells on himself and his own personal guards, so it was no surprise that the enemy had done the same.
He loaded two more pistols, at the same time trying to close some of the distance between himself and the enemy magician.
Suddenly a thick, white mist appeared around the rebel magician and his men, spreading rapidly toward Carrtog himself. He fired a pistol and called out the charm Clear Sight, a simple but strong spell.
The mist stopped about twenty yards from him, maintaining that twenty-yard clear space from him even as it carried on spreading past and around him.
He cast another spell, a very strong one named See the Man, one which might well put him on the edge of exhaustion. The result was a clear corridor some three yards wide, cutting straight through the mist. Its pace slowed as it neared the enemy magician’s position then stopped suddenly.
For the space of about ten heartbeats it stayed still, then in a sudden rush, it moved to reveal its quarry.
“Come on!” he shouted, urging his horse forward along the corridor, which rolled back and forth over the rebel sorcerer.
The magician fired a pistol in his direction; beyond range for a pistol-shot, so it must be a spell of some kind. Well, he would just have to hope that his own spell-protection charm was still in effect.
He felt something like a heavy blow across his whole body, and almost fell out of his saddle. His mind told him that his spell-protection charm was indeed in effect, otherwise he would have been driven to the ground, likely with a number of broken bones. As it was, he and his horse continued in their charge, though the horse was a little slowed.
The question now was how many loaded pistols did that fellow have left? That last spell might well have taken the last of Carrtog’s own spell-protection, leaving him — and his men — vulnerable to whatever the man threw next.
But no, the magician was fumbling with pistol and powder-flask. Gods be blessed, he’s out!
His foe fumbled and dropped his pistol, then hastily turned his horse to run. Carrtog was bearing down on him. The other man’s horse didn’t have enough time to build up the speed to escape.
At the last moment, a trooper in the uniform of Carrtog’s force came rushing out of the mist in front of the magician, looked around wildly, and swung his sword, cutting the man out of the saddle.
He came rushing on toward Carrtog, lifting his sword for another blow. Carrtog brought up his own blade to counter, only to have one of his own guards rush forward, slamming his horse’s body into the body of the other man’s mount, sending the horse staggering, and the man struggling to stay in the saddle.
As the trooper regained control of himself, he suddenly realized who he had been attempting to attack. He dropped his sword-hand to his side. “Lord Carrtog! Forgive me, Lord, I didn’t mean—”
“No, you just came to a space in a magic mist, saw armed men, and started to swing. You killed the enemy magician, for which you have my thanks, and you have my guard to thank that he just knocked you off balance and didn’t chop you down to save me. I suppose it’s a futile question to ask if you know where your troop-commander is?”
“I’m sorry, Lord. Before that Gods-cursed fog came down, I sort of had an idea where he was, but not anymore, Sir.”
“Well, I and my men will be riding this way; perhaps you might wish to come with us.”
A suggestion from a lord was as good as a command, so the young man said, “Yes, Sir,” and fell in behind them.
They rode on for quite a while, never finding any sign of the battle save for dead or wounded men. For their own wounded, one of the people in his party stopped with them to do what they could, then catch them up again. For the enemy wounded, they only made an effort to mark the place, then went on again. If possible, someone would come back to try to find the rebels.
After an hour and a half or so, Carrtog stopped his party, which by now had grown by ten men all from various troops.
“We’ll stop here to make a temporary camp, at least. I’ll send up a signal to let the rest know our general position, and I hope they’ll be able to find us.”
He loaded a pistol and fired off a charge. The incantation he spoke with it caused the pistol-flash to spread out into the now familiar form of a large grayish rock with an unsheathed sword above it.
As the illusion began to fade, he said to those around him, “There. Now anyone who sees that will know where t
o find us. Now, the head of my guards will be the commander of this group, and he will be responsible for setting up whatever camp and sentries seems best to him. For my part, I will see to a ring of wards around us to warn us if any enemies approach. However, I would not like to hear that the sentries took the wards as an excuse to slack. Magic is useful, but depending on it to the exclusion of all other methods is not only foolish but dangerous.”
#
It was not until late that afternoon that Carrtog and Commander Cargiodd decided that all the troops that were going to rally to that point had arrived. By that time Carrtog had repeated his gray rock illusion twice more. After the second time, he said, “I’d say that should be it. If they don’t come now, they’re either dead or deserters.”
Chapter 27
Two days later, shortly after noon, they were marching back into Kilgarhai. They had barely come past the edge of the town when Yakor came riding up. Even before he spoke, Carrtog knew something was wrong.
Carrtog turned to Commander Cargiodd. “Commander, see to getting the men to barracks.”
“Yes, Lord.”
He pushed his mount out of the line of troops.
“What’s happened Yakor?”
“Last night that Gods-cursed Llodcar and his so-called traders attacked; they’ve taken Lady Adengler, killed several servants and guards. I barely kept them from getting the babe.”
Carrtog felt his heart slide to the pit of his stomach, but close behind the panic came anger. “Why did you not contact me immediately?”
“Change one disaster into two? Call you and have that magic thing squawking when you’re about to ambush the rebels?”
“Of course.” Carrtog recalled his own decision not to call on Yakor for the same reasons. “You say you kept them from taking Aderyn?”
“Their intent had been even worse, Lord. From what I heard them say, they were to take the Lady but slay the child.”
Carrtog felt his teeth clench. “Tell me how it came about.”
Yakor nodded. “Last night, I was just taking a last turn around the quarters to see that all was well. When I came to the stables, I found all the stable boys sound asleep. When I couldn’t get them to stay awake, I realized that it was magic of some sort, so I ran out and shouted the alarm. That protection-spell of yours kept me and the guards awake, and we ran first for the Lady’s chamber. I could hear fighting round the corner next to the baby’s room, so we hurried round there. One of the two guards was dead and the second wounded but still fighting against three out of an original four. We managed to weigh in and turn the tide, but, by the time the three attackers were dead, there was nothing we could to for Lady Adengler; the two guards set to her door were already dead and she was gone. It was during the fight when I heard one say to another, something like ‘We’re not going to be able to kill the brat; let’s get out of here.’”
He paused, looking at Carrtog. “It’s a good thing you decided to make the nurse maid one of the ones under the protective spell; she was awake and soothing the little one already, a water-jug in her hand to fight off murderers if necessary.” His expression was grim at the memory. “It took a bit to convince her that we were not Gods-cursed baby-murderers, but when that was done, she was quick to get the girl ready to carry away; I decided not to leave them in the room; I didn’t have enough men to keep them safe and also try to go after the ones who’d taken your Lady.
“I’m sorry, Lord. They had it well planned; before they started much else, they’d already used some Gods-cursed magic to sicken all our horses. That let them get well away before we could wake anyone in town to sequester horses for our own use.”
“You did follow them?”
Yakor spat on the ground. “Your commanders, being extremely careful of the improper use of His Majesty’s troops, refused to allow me to take more than the particular troops assigned to your guard. Despite my position as your sworn man, they do not consider me to speak for you in any matter regarding disposition of troops. A commendable attitude, so far as it keeps me from taking troops off for some purpose of my own which has nothing to do with the purposes of the garrison of the town, but when it comes to preventing me from pursuit of the kidnappers of your family, I find it a little less laudable. I sent three to pursue the false traders as far as possible and send back word when they reached some final destination.
“Lord, they did not go north, as one might expect, but back into Cragmor.”
Carrtog could feel the rage building in the back of his mind, but he knew very well that acting only on that rage would likely lead to disaster. Instead, he began to funnel the rage toward careful steps to take.
It did not matter much who had taken Addy, what mattered was to get her back. The fact that they had taken her back into Cragmor was confusing. Or was it? Was this perhaps a plan by the king to inhibit his effectiveness, thus giving His Majesty a reason to retire Carrtog in disgrace?
It seemed sort of roundabout and fraught with danger for the king, but Carrtog recalled the day on the trip back from Tenerack when the king had suddenly refused to listen to Carrtog, and began addressing Yakor as ‘Lord.’
He pulled his mind away from that. He could look into who precisely was behind it later. The first thing to do was to see if he could track Addy. If he could track her, the next thing to do would be to track her and free her, and— No! Thinking of particular punishments for culprits was much too previous.
How many, if any, of his troops could he reasonably take? Taking the whole garrison was out of the question. Aside from leaving the railway line unprotected, there was the fact that his leading of his entire force back into Cragmor, without any orders for the movement, could be construed as rebellion and might just accomplish the king’s desires — if it was indeed the king behind it.
Of course, leaving his command without the king’s permission might achieve the same end but Carrtog would not leave Addy a prisoner for any longer than he could help.
They had arrived at the house now, and he turned to Yakor. “Summon all my guards, at once. After that, send a boy to ask Commander Cargiodd to call on me at his earliest convenience. Issue orders to the servants to pack for a journey of at least two weeks. No, cancel that. Gather the nursemaid with Aderyn and enough servants to look after us. We’ll be living rough, with enough allowances made for the baby. Have them load enough wagons with sufficient supplies for us.”
“We’re going after them?”
“Was there any doubt?”
“His Majesty might be unhappy.”
“Had it occurred to you that His Majesty might be behind the whole thing? That the reason why those ‘merchants’ had such well-forged letters was that they were not forgeries at all?”
Yakor scowled. “Surely even the king would not put out papers like that, under his own hand?”
“Might he not, if there were no copies made for any official record and the ‘merchants’ understood that the papers would be denied if matters went wrong?”
Yakor spat on the ground. “All right, then, I’ll start with carrying out your orders. Where will we find you?”
“Either in the machine-shed or my office. I have a good many preparations to make before we go.”
#
The commander’s face was grim when he approached Carrtog in his office an hour later. “It reflects badly on my troops, Lord, that these scoundrels should so brazenly carry out such an outrage in their midst. My troops are at your disposal, Lord, however you need them.”
Carrtog frowned. “I appreciate the offer, Commander, but I must not lose sight of the fact that the railway line needs to be kept open. I will take only the troops assigned to me as guard. I will ask, though, that you allow me to draw supplies for this excursion, as well as necessary transport.”
“Of course, Lord.”
“You might not wish to be so obliging to me, Commander,
if the king should send people to ask questions as to my deserting my station and the amount of assistance you rendered to me in the matter.”
“Lord, I believe that I and my troops owe you a good deal, considering the losses you have prevented through your magic. For that reason alone, I am willing to suffer the king’s displeasure.”
“Thank you for your gratitude, Commander, but I am unwilling to pull down another in my troubles. I will take only my guard, and supplies and transport for two weeks, and that is all. You may demonstrate your gratitude by continuing to protect the railway line in my absence.”
“Yes, Lord.”
#
Affairs in the house in order, Carrtog moved next to the machine-shed where he would find all the special supplies he would need for the excursion. Gryff was in the machine-shed tinkering with a large machine that took up most of the workspace. The machine was something Carrtog had never seen before, though he was not entirely surprised as he had known Gryff had been working on something in secret for many weeks. The young engineer looked up as Carrtog came in. “Lord, I’m sorry, I wasn’t able to do anything to prevent what happened.” His face showed extreme anguish, a knowledge that he had not done enough.
“Gryff, you were hired as a mechanic, not a warrior, and I had no desire to see you getting yourself killed fighting men who’ve spent all their lives learning how to fight. I’m going out after those murdering scoundrels, you need have no doubt as to that, however, I could use your services as a mechanic. It will very certainly be dangerous, but I will have men guarding you while you do your part. What do you say?”
Gryff’s expression blazed. “Need you ask, Lord? In fact, I wished to speak with you. I have been working on something that may be of use. I had hoped it would make the glider more effective in the fight against the rebels, but my hope is that it can serve us now instead.” Gryff turned to the wagon-like contraption in the center of the workroom. “I call it the Stew-pot.”