EXILED Wizard of Tizare

by Matthew J. Costello

  “Stay toward the back, Caissir,” Falon laughed. “And, if you get in a really tight spot, just do a magic trick.”

  And he led them out of Rhow’s castle.

  •

  Falon climbed the steps of the western wall.

  Rhow wasn’t joking. The wall was barely half the height of the eastern wall, with only a few fortified positions in which to place a line of archers. And, of course, there was no way that the fancy battle machines could be used. They would stick up higher than the wall, an easy target for fire arrows.

  The soldiers, though, seemed to be as good as Rhow had promised.

  They accepted Falon’s leadership with an eagerness that alarmed him. He just hoped such trust wasn’t ill-founded.

  As soon as he was on the ramparts, the two captains under him came for orders on how he’d like the soldiers placed, and where to station the reserves.

  There was no point, Falon saw, in lining the wall with soldiers—they’d just make easy targets. Better to keep two small groups to the side, well behind the stone turrets. Then, when the invaders were about to breach the wall, the Tizarian soldiers could spread out along the wall and cut down the enemy.

  Falon looked up to see what the captains thought of his plan. They nodded, and he felt that they must have had a similar idea themselves.

  “And where should I go?” Ashre asked.

  “With the reserves,” Falon said. “And now ... I don’t want anyone on this wall until it’s filled with invaders.”

  “I’ll guard the provisions,” Caissir offered.

  Falon shook his head. “You stay with Ashre. Keep him covered, and off this wall until I say it’s safe.”

  “Certainly,” Caissir said. “I was just—”

  Falon nodded, preoccupied with his plans.

  I wish Taline were here, he thought. To give us her opinion, maybe to stay and fight alongside us.

  Instead, they would live through this night with a city between them, not knowing each other’s fate until morning.

  The sun touched the hills in the west, melting into the green ridges, as the shadows of the valley grew and spread, racing toward the city itself.

  It can’t be long now.

  Ashre grabbed Falon’s hand.

  “Can I stay here with you ... until, it begins?”

  Falon smiled, then looked at Caissir, “No, Ash. Stay below, with the others ... help Caissir eat some of his food. And don’t worry—you’ll see plenty before this night is out.

  Caissir gently led Ashre down the steps, off the ramparts. While Falon stayed there, watching the night arrive.

  •

  All was ready, thought Rhow. And it would begin at any moment.

  How many, he wondered? They would expect no resistance, or a token battle—that was all. Not a completely armed and alerted city.

  But was it strong enough?

  He looked down to the area just inside the wall. Elezar was once again reviewing the instruction to the operators of the battle machines. If they were to fire too early, the damage they could do would be wasted. Too late, and the battle would already have progressed to bloody hand-to-hand fighting.

  And he looked over at the rows of archers lined up on the wall. Taline was guiding them, making sure that no one fired until their targets were in range.

  In range ... and in sight. The twin moons would not rise until the siege had been going on for a long time. Perhaps the fate of the city would have been decided by then. Perhaps it would be over.

  Elezar would use one of the catapults to set fire to piles of brush placed outside the city walls: Rhow hoped the fire would provide enough light to see the enemy.

  He turned back, once again, to look at the city. He saw Plano standing there, waiting.

  Soon, my eager minister. Soon, you’ll get your chance. And Rhow felt disgust at his counselor’s taste for pain.

  Soon it will be your turn. Soon I’ll be rid of you.

  “They’re here—on the hills! I can see them!” the soldier screamed out the warning that everyone was waiting for. He clambered down from his perch on the small tower on top of the gate.

  “They’re forming ranks now, along the slope of the hill ... all spread out.”

  Rhow looked east, at first seeing nothing. Then, through the smoky haze of dusk, he saw them, like small dots, lining themselves up.

  How many? he asked himself. Are we strong enough?

  He rubbed his hands together, annoyed at his growing fear.

  The dots kept lining up.

  By the All-Mother, let them stop, Rhow prayed. Taline came running up to him.

  “Father, they’re still forming.”

  “Yes,” he said. “There are more than I ... imagined. Still, we’re ready, right, Taline?” He looked down at his daughter, so brave, so faithful.

  And what will she think? he wondered. Will she stand by me, ever loyal? Or will she turn away ... in disgust?

  “They’re moving!” the lookout screamed.

  Now the line of dots started its slow march to the walls of Tizare.

  Rhow reached out and touched Taline’s cheek.

  “Best to get to your position,” he said softly.

  She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. Then she ran back to the rows of crouching archers.

  “Elezar!” he shouted down to his captain. “The invaders have begun to move. Prepare your machines.”

  Elezar raised a hand, and the teams began turning the massive winches, pulling back the catapults and fire machines.

  Then, almost sadly, Lord Rhow let himself look at Plano.

  He nodded.

  And Plano, a terrible grin on his face, turned and headed west ....

  •

  “Perhaps they’ll not come at all,” Caissir said, chewing on some crusty bread from Lord Rhow’s kitchen. He held the loaf towards Ashre, who just shook his head. “You have to eat, Ash—keep your strength up. No, I think that the invasion will just fade away. Especially when they get a look at the way the city is defended. Why, then you and I and Falon can enjoy ourselves—” he leaned close to the kit

  “—and our connection with friends in high places.”

  He watched Ashre get up, all fidgety, pacing back and forth.

  “Settle down, Ash. There’s nothing you can do now. Why—”

  “Falon’s in danger,” Ashre said, almost whispering. “I felt it ... just then ... like a message that’s been trying to come through all day.”

  “Well, of course he’s in danger. We’re all in danger,” Caissir said, between chews on the bread.

  “No,” Ashre said, Violently shaking his head, and pacing faster and faster. “No—something else. Not a danger from out there. Something ... I don’t know. It all ended. Just as I felt it.”

  “Well, don’t worry,” Caissir said, smiling, but also a bit scared by the kit’s vehemence. “You and I are here to protect him.”

  Ash nodded.

  Then they heard the steps of someone running towards them from out of the gloomy back streets of Tizare. A half dozen soldiers stood up, weapons ready.

  It was a messenger dressed in the uniform of Lord Rhow’s personal army.

  “Yes, what is it?” one of Falon’s soldiers asked hi.

  “There is a need for the one called Ashre. I am to stay here—” he said breathlessly. “To assist Falon. Lord Rhow said—”

  Falon stepped down from the wall and walked over to the messenger.

  “Lord Rhow says what?” Falon snapped.

  He was edgy, Caissir thought. Maybe he was in over his head. He might be a brave highlander, but who knew what his abilities as a soldier might be?

  “Lord Rhow said that there was a need for Ashre ... that Taline had something to ask him. He’s to go to the main gate.”
r />   Falon looked at Ashre. “I don’t know. I’d rather he stay here with—”

  “But if Taline needs me for something,” Ashre said,

  “Then that’s where I should be.”

  Falon looked around.

  “Has the attack begun?” he’ asked the messenger.

  The messenger nodded. “Just now—a line of the invaders is moving against the main gate. You had best keep careful watch.”

  “Very well. Ashre may go, but I want Caissir here to take him.”

  Caissir looked up, startled, telltale crumbs sticking to his whiskers. “But hadn’t I—”

  “I was told to ask only for Ashre,” the messenger said.

  “Caissir takes him, and,” he said, coming close to the now well-fed magician, “and Caissir, you will bring him back.” .

  “Falon!” a soldier yelled from the wall. “There’s movement out there—coming towards us!”

  Falon came to Caissir and rested a hand on his shoulder. “Be careful, my friend.” And then he returned to his post on the wall.

  “And you too ...” whispered Caissir, to the night air. “You too...”

  “MREM,” Rhow said to Elezar.

  Elezar spit over the wall, onto the ground. “Renegades. We’ll give them a special welcome.”

  Rhow grabbed at the edge of the wall, steadying himself.

  “There are more than I imagined. I don’t think—”

  “We’ll do fine. If Falon holds the west, we’ll have no problem here.”

  The invaders came faster now, not exactly running, but the soldiers tried to keep pace with the chariots that now passed them. They were of a design that Rhow had never seen before. They moved quickly, and it even looked as though there were mrem riding on them.

  “Best get to your position,” he said to Elezar. Elezar made a slight bow and left.

  Now they were clearly visible, even though it was night. Their armor caught the starlight and the glow of the torches on top of the twin towers that flanked the gate.

  Rhow looked at Taline, crouched low next to her archers, ready to give the order, and then back to Elezar, who would await his signal.

  The rest of the soldiers crouched on the ramparts, ready to leap up and throw the invaders off the wall.

  And then, as Rhow watched them draw close, another, new line of attackers began forming on the distant hills.

  Rhow tried not to let any of the soldiers see him standing there, shaking. ...

  •

  “Pretty quiet, eh, Ashre?”

  The streets seemed ghostly to Caissir. A haunted city. “I guess everyone’s taking no chances.”

  He looked over at Ashre, who said nothing.

  “What’s the problem, Ash?”

  The kit shrugged. “This isn’t right,” he said grimly. “We shouldn’t be leaving Falon.”

  “But if Taline needs you ... I’m sure there must be a reason ....”

  They turned a corner, and now passed The Flying Copper Inn. The windows were all lit up, and the sound of music and laughter spilled out onto the street.

  “At least some good souls are taking advantage of all the excitement,” Caissir said. “You don’t suppose that we could stop a moment and—”

  Ashre shook his head, walking on, away from the friendly glow of lights.

  “Oh, well,” Caissir grumbled, hurrying to catch up.

  They took more turns, down the twisted streets of the city, getting closer to the center of the city.

  They came to a narrow alleyway, wet with the shiny stream of an open sewer. It was the type of place you’d expect a mynt to be foraging for scraps of food, Caissir thought. But there was nothing, nothing except—

  A figure in the shadows. Moving, slowly, steadily out into the open.

  “Ashre ... I’ve been waiting for you.”

  Caissir put an arm around the kit, pulling him back. “Careful, Ash ... stay beside me.”

  “Now, don’t pull him away,” the stranger said. “please don’t do that—”

  Caissir heard something behind him. He turned, and there was a creature with two heads, each of them giddily rolling back and forth as it chewed at the air. It was a twisted thing, part liskash, part mrem.

  “Oh, no,” Caissir gasped.

  His hand released Ashre, as he whimpered and fell against the wall.

  The stranger grabbed at Ashre. “Don’t be alarmed ...

  Ashre.” His voice was low. “It’s just something to keep your meddlesome friend away ... while we, talk about important matters.” He started to lead Ashre down the alleyway, leaving behind the moaning and crying Caissir.

  “You see, my name is Plano, and I too am a very great magic user .... But that you shall see for yourself.”

  •

  There were only four or five of them, Falon figured, running around out near the thick stand of parra trees.

  “What do you think?” he asked the captain standing beside him.

  “They’re looking us over, I’d say. Trying to see how well the wall is defended.”

  “Keep your men down, then,” Falon said. “I don’t want them sending any larger force against us than they feel they have to.”

  The captain nodded, and walked down the stone steps to the assembled soldiers.

  I wish Ash were here, Falon thought. It’s like being blind, this waiting, and watching, not knowing what’s coming ... and when it will come.

  More invaders appeared, only now they stood their ground, out in the open, looking at the wall.

  At least one of them was a liskash, Falon saw. It towered over the other invaders. They stood there, also waiting, perhaps for the Tizarians to make a show of force on the wall.

  Sorry, Falon thought. If you want to see the cards I hold you’ll have to raise the stakes.

  Then, around the opening that led into the woods, more of the invaders began to gather, not forming any position, but slowly coming together, ten, then twenty, then more, until it was beginning to look like an army.

  This was it. They were probably sneaking away from the main attack force, regrouping in the woods, and getting ready to attack.

  “Everyone ready!” Falon called out, and the soldiers, most of them lolling around talking, quickly sat up and stood near the wall.

  The army, a shadowy horde, started to move.

  Falon readied his sword.

  •

  The small fires on the wall cast a dim glow on the army moving against the main gate.

  So many! Rhow thought. It was a much larger army than he had imagined.

  Perhaps they didn’t expect to enter the city unopposed.

  They were close enough for him to hear the rhythmic clatter of their armor as they marched together, and the squeaking wheels of the chariots upon which, yes, mrem and liskash actually rode side by side.

  It was cold now, and Rhow pulled his kilt tighter.

  Plano should be back by now—how long could it take him to tie the kit up, keeping him away from Falon? Not long at all. ... Where was he?

  “Ready, my Lord!” Taline called.

  “Ready, Lord Rhow!” Elezar yelled from down below.

  Ready … yes, but am I ready?

  He pulled out his sword.

  “On my downstroke!” he called out.

  He raised his sword in the air.

  •

  The two-headed thing came closer, sniffing and snorting at Caissir, opening its foul mouth, breathing right on Caissir’s face, seemingly taking its own sweet time to eat him.

  As well it might, thought Caissir, his face no longer registering terror.

  He stood up slowly, passing close to the monster, so close, then right through it.

  Like a heavy morning mist, it dispersed through the alleyway, joining the fog.

/>   A very clever illusion, Caissir thought, with a funny sort of admiration.

  He started walking in the direction he saw Plano take Ashre.

  •

  “You see, young kit, I was to have tied you up and stuck you right over there, near those bales of sporass for the herd-beasts. That is, in fact, what Lord Rhow expects ....”

  Ashre looked around the large, cold storeroom, searching for some way to run from this stranger ....

  “Oh, don’t trouble yourself looking for a way out. You’re quite my prisoner ... for so long as I will it.”

  Ashre shook his head.

  “Oh, yes—you see, I’m the reason your danger sense hasn’t been working very well. You couldn’t even tell that Falon is going to be killed by Rhow. And all of your other magic will, I’m afraid, be rather ineffective ....”

  Ashre watched him slip a long silvery blade from under his tunic.

  “You’re much too dangerous to our plans to be left alive. You’re young now, Ashre, but in the future, who knows? Rhow will be disappointed ... he had hoped to use you. But after the Eastern Lords take the city—as they most certainly will—he will have ... other things to be concerned about.” He gave a sick little laugh.

  Ashre tried to move, just to take a small step, toward the back, away from Plano.

  Plano shook his head. “No, I’m afraid that won’t help you, my small friend.”

  The blade caught the light of the two large torches hanging off the side of the warehouse.

  “There will be only one magic user in Tizare, Ashre, and that is me. With the spells from The Song of the Three Moons my power will be complete, and I will be able to help the Eastern Lords become the new rulers of Ar. ...”

  He took some more steps towards Ashre, and the kit struggled to say something, to call out—anything to break this incredibly powerful spell. Plano raised the blade in the air.