His magic flared to his off hand as he closed the distance enough to place his palm flat against her shield. “Shatter,” he stated as if he was using a battle mage spell.
Sylvaine’s shield broke instantly knocking the girl back with the force of his spell. Her sword slipped from her hand as she tripped and fell onto the hard ground.
“You are definitely still a novice, but I doubt that you have the heart for ever mastering the skill,” Garosh declared as he offered a hand to the much smaller girl. Sylvaine was slightly above average in height compared to most of the women she knew, though her mistress, Eloria was much taller; but next to the giant she was a child.
His assessment caused the apprentice to clench her jaw in annoyance. She had talked Palose into training her and Turless by proxy, and Sylvaine had tried hard to get better; but Garosh had seen through to her heart quickly. Unfortunately she was a wizard at heart, though the apprentice wanted to continue on in her studies of the art. Knowing how to use a sword and the quick spells of a battle mage made her feel more secure. If something should happen that would let a soldier near her, Sylvaine knew that she had at least some skill to fight to save her life.
Taking his hand to help her up, the girl could say nothing. She felt like she had let Palose down as her teacher.
“Don’t look so sad,” Garosh urged her gently. “You know more than most people, just remember that Southwall trains its soldiers to fight better than say a nomad or even countries like Kardor. While that is a good thing, be careful to try and keep your distance to use your magic since you can’t rely on your blade yet.”
“Yes, my lord,” she answered looking at the ground in disappointment.
“So you obviously know this Palose well, what do you think of him?”
The question brought her eyes up in surprise. Her hands crossed in front of her and her thumbs twirled around each other. She wanted to say many things about the young man who she had come to know since the end of last summer. On the other hand, telling Garosh of her crush on Palose was hardly appropriate.
“Ah,” he said bringing her eyes back to his in surprise. “You like him that way, so I guess asking to get an accurate assessment is out of the question.”
His face held a slight smile as Sylvaine looked at him. The man had seen through her easily enough and the girl understood that she had hid nothing from him in her silence. “Palose is quiet, competent and intelligent. He is also patient trying to teach wizards how to be swordsmen, since that is like trying to change water into a rock. I think he hides himself from others because he is fearful that the warlocks will kill him for being a resurrection man.”
The girl had said more than she would have before he had seen through to her heart.
“And you are starting to fall in love with him, a former dead man?” the giant questioned bluntly and it struck like a slap to the face.
“He doesn’t seem dead. Unlike them,” Sylvaine pointed towards the two wraiths standing behind him looking like something dug from the ground. They were formed from a necromancer’s spell and held no love for the half life they had been given. “Palose seems as human as you or I,” she finished quietly.
“I was formed from the tissue of the emperor and other men. The question of my being real followed me for years as I grew, but no one dared insinuate that I was anything but a living man when they learned to fear me. My size coupled with the touch of the emperor’s magic cowed most even when I was a child.”
Looking to his eyes, Sylvaine saw sadness hidden behind the strength. He wasn’t angry, but she saw the pain of trying to prove himself real. She had seen similar pain in Palose as he tried to figure out where he belonged in this world. The mage seemed alive, but men with small minds called him a resurrection man and believed him a slave to the necromancer.
What kind of life had Garosh known being the result of an experiment for the emperor?
He picked up her sword that Sylvaine had forgotten already. Thinking that she wasn’t making much of a battle mage, the girl returned the blade to its sheath.
“Get some rest. The enemy will be at the base of the mountain tomorrow. We will deal with them harshly letting them know that Ensolus’s power is greater than theirs,” Garosh ordered half heartedly.
“We will destroy them so easily?” the girl asked starting forward towards the inner gate. She shared a room deep inside the mountain with Wizard Eloria. “Southwall has resisted Ensolus for centuries. How can you be so sure?”
“I don’t need to destroy them. I just need to make it clear that they can’t destroy us,” he stated firmly.
“Too bad you can’t teach them clearly,” the girl replied. “Even if you kill them, they never seem to quit. Kill a small army and find greater ones tomorrow. If you could figure out a way to make them see you differently, then they might leave you alone.”
There was no quick response and Sylvaine looked to the lord carefully. His mind looked preoccupied with something and the girl was unsure what she might have said to cause that. Surely he knew the same as she. A single battle never meant the result of the war and their countries had been at war since they stepped out of the light of the Silver World. Technically, the emperor had been fighting the ancestors of these people for many centuries before that from the Old World to the Silver World and now here on North Continent.
“I’m sorry, my lord. I didn’t mean to misspeak,” Sylvaine said timidly.
A gentle wave as his mind remained preoccupied pushed at her worries. “You have nothing to be sorry over,” he stopped and added, “I don’t even now your name.”
“I am Sylvaine apprentice to Wizard Eloria.”
“You have nothing to fear from me, Sylvaine. No, you have just given me an idea that might make these battles more important than just throwing the Southwallers off my mountain.
“Good night, Sylvaine, and thank you for speaking with me,” he finished surprising the girl with his sudden gentle disposition.
Not wanting to risk seeing a return to his more fierce nature, the apprentice hurried inside the mountain.
Flashes of fire in the darkness could be seen in two directions. Wolves howled between sounds of concussive fire and a variety of spells down below the mountain slope where two armies from Southwall struggled against the various soldiers serving under Garosh. Even the faint carrying of voices and clang of metal managed to echo through the hills and valleys to reach the apprentice’s ears.
“Make sure you stay near me, Sylvaine,” Eloria, a tall figure dressed in gray and black, said to her apprentice. The fact that the girl was nervous being in her first conflict with Southwall would have been known from the worry on her face, but the wizard knew the girl well understanding that she was a peaceful soul. Sylvaine loved elemental magic and had even confessed that she was learning to defend herself with the sword and specialized magic taught to her by a young battle mage, but that didn’t mean she had the heart for fighting.
“Yes, mistress,” the girl said meekly in a quiet voice as if she could hide from the other warlocks around them. The bulk of their magical forces had remained in position uphill of the enemy while orcs, goblins, trolls and the werebeasts harried the two columns making it difficult to join Southwall’s forces.
Southwall’s armies from Windmeer and Falcon’s Keep had been fighting their way through the blizzard, snow and continued harassing attacks from Garosh’s army for almost a week. While Sylvaine and the main army had awaited their eventual arrival, commando units picked off riders with arrows or wolves invaded camps to kill or wound anyone they could before being driven out by discovery. Despite all the pain Ensolus dealt their forces, the armies of Southwall remained tenacious driving the last miles towards each other to make a final push towards the fortress.
Hours passed and Sylvaine was cold from the freezing winter air. Air shields were used by many, but her strength was waning and she could no longer afford to maintain the protection from both cold and wind. If the enemy reached them and
they were exhausted from using their shields or too cold to fight from not using them, Southwall would have a much better chance.
The warlocks and half the soldiers from the fortress held the high ground. While magic could counter the tactical position, the enemy soldiers still had to deal with fighting uphill. An attack would be draining even from horseback. Their momentum would be minimal and easily halved while Ensolus could use the slope to attack with extra force.
Garosh rode up with just a handful of his shape changing wolf men in tow. His wraiths were noticeably missing from his entourage and Sylvaine wondered if they had been sent into the battles below.
“Company one create a fog on the slope to the east to assist our troops,” the giant ordered and the eastern side of the warlock line began to move forward following a handful of Wizard Hunters. The wizards had been divided into three companies all lead by a portion of the Wizard Hunters. Having been among the forefront of many battles designed to take out enemy wizards, the black armored warlocks were unphased by the chaos of war. There were even trolls, orcs and goblins in their forces protected by spells and armor designed to make them a match for most elemental wizards. Those were leaders in the main forces already fighting down below.
“Company two take the west slope and back those fighting Falcon’s Keep,” he added receiving confirming movement as the leaders began walking forward. There were few horses available to the soldiers of Ensolus here in Southwall, so warlocks marched like infantry trying to maneuver to their points early before the enemy could use their horses to beat them to the punch.
Sylvaine and Eloria were in the largest force, company three. Again they waited, but this time Garosh and his men stood ready to lead the final battle.
Minutes later, the girl watched as darkness seemed to increase killing the light given from the snow between the trees and brush. The fog blocked the view of the enemy’s fire spells as hundreds of Ensolus’s troops readied for another attack on the eastern army. The two armies were nearly together judging by the sight of fire slowly closing together.
“Ensolus, follow me!” Garosh gave his order and moved the army into position. “Ready the night shields!”
“They are joined,” Eloria stated briefly as they could see the flames in the night concentrate below them over time. “Now they will probably think their combined forces will have a better chance to storm the fortress.”
Sylvaine could see the spells of fog obscuring their troops falling back from the enemy behind them. Fires from torches were dimly seen through the fog, but she could tell that the armies of two castles had finally joined together to make their push towards the mountain fort. When they finally started forward, the slope beneath her position began to erupt in fire.
Looking for the other two companies, the apprentice realized that the warlocks had remained below her position hiding in the trees and brush. Even with the snow threatening to the crush the vegetation, darkness from leaves of evergreens and other leaves resisting winter created cover. Adding to the natural cover a fog created from the darkness spells filled in the gaps. For the enemy below, they must feel like they were looking into a starless, night sky.
Fire struck the fog and pushed it back. Water wizards thinned the snow for the advancing troops of Southwall as they pushed against the darkness. As the enemy attempted to light the night and drive back the soldiers of Southwall, Garosh waited to give the command that would take the fight out of his enemies.
She watched as the giant used his magic in a way that was unknown to her. It seemed to be a powerful spell, but the apprentice could see or feel nothing beyond the warlock’s build up of power.
Fires began to wink out below on the right and left flank. Night shields had begun in unison without a sign or sound. The enemy stalled as they increased their attacks of fire, but they met the shields of Ensolus and were absorbed into the night.
“How?” Sylvaine murmured in disbelief.
Eloria looked at her apprentice and the girl thought that she witnessed a strange glow of magic centered around the woman’s forehead. “Lord Garosh has used a mass communication spell to direct the remainder of the battle.”
“How is that possible? I have never read of such a spell in any of the books,” Sylvaine questioned her master in confusion.
“I have never read of one so powerful. My guess is that only Garosh and most likely the emperor can perform such a massive spell, since it would take power beyond what most warlocks could hope to use,” the woman stated looking both impressed and a bit fearful.
If Garosh’s powers were so great, could he alter the spell to push a person’s mind to do what he wanted rather than just communicating. There were warlocks and wizards that specialized in tampering with people’s minds and making the living into puppets like the bones of the mouse Palose had manipulated with his magic. It was a terrifying power. Sylvaine shivered with the thought rather than the cold as she followed her mistress’s thinking.
Eloria turned to face the enemy and cast her magic at the giant’s unspoken command.
Darkness thickened below them. White snow and silver moonlight could penetrate the fog of night no more than the fire of the enemy wizards. She waited for the command, verbal or magical, to rush down to finish off Southwall. Her fear continued to rise and Sylvaine’s left hand went to the short sword on her hip. Fingers traced the leather binding the handle only to rub the metal ball at its end. Her right hand opened and closed readying to pull the weapon free or cast her spells.
Left to stew in their inability to bring the fight to the fortress, Sylvaine watched as Garosh eventually gathered his five wraiths and started down the hill to face the enemy. The darkness shields remained around him as he spoke with the enemy commanders. A young girl on horseback shouted at the giant, but Sylvaine remained too far away to hear any of their words.
Fire was sent, but she could see that he had taunted their wizards into trying to kill him. The darkness shields absorbed the spells as they had the rest of the fire less than an hour before them.
Moments later, their talks led to Garosh waving away the wraiths and Sylvaine watched incredulously as the giant allowed the enemy to bind him in chains. The fog and shields of night winked out and the first two companies began to retreat up the slope.
“What just happened?” the apprentice asked her mentor.
Frowning at the girl, Eloria replied nearly as surprised as Sylvaine, “He just surrendered himself to bring peace.”
Turning as the taller woman took her shoulder joining the retreat with the others, Sylvaine tried to grasp what Garosh was up to. Even after their talk the previous night, she had presumed that the giant planned to destroy his enemies, but there had been that moment at the end of their conversation. Had something she had said brought about this sudden change? What could Garosh hope to gain by surrendering himself to the enemy?
Eloria had said that he had given himself up for peace, but the lord had spoken of crushing his enemies instead. Wouldn’t peace of a kind be found either way? The girl was confused and joined the army as it climbed back to the fortress.
Chapter 15- Rilena
The column from Windmeer walked the long path back home. With wounded still recovering from their wounds and dead to bury that had been left in the wake of their three days of battling the harassing army of werebeasts, orcs and goblins; they moved slowly and warily back the way they had come.
For Rilena, a falcon who had faced the mountain fortress twice in less than a month, the return home would have been a relief, if her tormentor wasn’t riding with them. The giant Garosh had led a team in torturing her and two captive wizards when they had happened upon the fortress on a simple escort mission.
The girl thought on that assessment. They had only discovered the existence of the hidden mountain fort and its maze of tunnels thanks to Sebastian and his ability to scout the winds. Though she could hardly fault him for her pain, since Rilena had volunteered to join the first scouting party and been o
ffered a path well away from the battle by him as well, the young woman wished that she had never had anything to do with any of it.
Wistfully thinking of the talented falcon, a man who had discovered magic that no battle mage had ever believed they could use, Rilena wondered what he was up to now. The last she had seen of Sebastian, he was preparing to do yet another thing that should be considered insane for a battle mage. He was gathering a group of wizards to train for a wizard’s dueling tournament. The man had less strength than a wizard like all battle mages, but his mind was as good at using magic as the best of their kind. She only hoped that he would do well and bring new honor to the battle mage corps.
Her eyes wandered to the back of the giant riding near the front of the column. Each time they found another soldier, mage or wizard dead in the snow, her eyes attempted to burn through his back with anger.
A canteen was thrust at the girl from her side, a boy’s hand shook the container as he said, “You should probably drink something before you burn up staring at him.”
Glancing at the brown haired boy, she had to remember that he was on the verge of being a man. As a recently graduated falcon, Elzen was only slightly younger than she and he had already saved her life three times that she was sure of during this one campaign. A jokester and tease to the girls, Elzen had taken the lead over wizards, falcons and soldiers alike to save their lives during the worst of the enemy ambushes saving many lives. On top of that, he was a rare healing mage. Perhaps the last had little to do with his age or maturity, but someone who could keep their head and save lives with magic had to be respected as more than just a boy.
Battle Mage: The Dark Mage (Tales of Alus) Page 22