Delver Magic Book II: Throne of Vengeance

by Jeff Inlo

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  The tide of battle turned with the first collapsing portion of the wall. The supplementary tunnel which allowed the dwarves access to its base gave them their first success. Heavy maces broke the foundation, and the wall section collapsed instantly. A dozen archers fell with the stone, fell into the waiting hands of the enemy. Death was quick, if not clean. The heavy ball of a mace did as much damage to human bone as it did to stone and wood.

  More dwarves surfaced and more of the wall was destroyed. Dwarf force commanders brought their warriors into attack formations and brought down the nets with razor sharp axes. After that, the change of fortunes was so swift it was almost frightening.

  Seven strike squads took off in separate directions and the dwarves now had unrestricted access to the surface. In mere moments, they took control of a three block square. Buildings supporting archers were brought down with crashing immediacy. The strike squads under the barking orders of seasoned force commanders advanced with great destruction. Crash after crash filled the night. Burbon was being taken apart piece by piece.

  As the invaders took greater ground, their own strength increased. Surfacing points were cleared of threats and the number of surface bound invaders grew with leaps and bounds. More strike squads formed and their ability to encompass larger sections of Burbon expanded.

  The human ground forces tried to break the attackers, divert them to new ambush points. This time, the dwarves did not respond. They ignored the diversions, keeping their mind and weapons upon the structures that held the ranged threats. More and more archers and slingers were brought to the ground with the sheer force of the enemy's numbers and power.

  There was little the defenders could do. They were now out positioned by a force with strength beyond their reckoning. How could they fight a foe which could destroy their defenses with a single swing?

  Desperation overwhelmed the human ground forces. They forgot their initial successes. They began frontal assaults and full engagement with the enemy. Dire results. Soldier after soldier fell as the dwarf warriors moved forward.

  Holli leapt about the town with speed almost matching a delver. She ordered all archers to shoot and move. It was their only chance. If they stayed positioned, they were inviting disaster.

  On the ground, Sy recalled all the ground forces. He rallied them at the center of Burbon in front of the guard headquarters. He ordered a rearming. They would switch to poison-tipped spears and crossbows and hold an angled line which would cut from there to the two eastern corners of town.

  Holli noted the adjustment and redeployed her archers to hold firm at these lines. She dropped to the ground to meet with the captain.

  "I never could have guessed they would have sent so many," she apologized.

  Sy focused on the here and now. "What is it going to take to stop them?"

  Holli said nothing, but the question was answered.

  "I can stop them." Enin seemed to appear out of no where. Seriousness covered his face like a death mask.

  The darkness of his expression took the breath from both Holli and Sy.

  The elf recovered first. "What will you do?"

  "I can blind them and disrupt the ground beneath them. Attacking them directly will be of little value. As you well know, they are resistant to magic, but they are not as resistant to the blinding light of the sun. That is what they will see. They will also not be able to stand upon ground that shakes or in tunnels that collapse. The two spells combined will leave them defenseless for a temporary period. If you charge them, they will not be able to protect themselves."

  Holli remained reserved. "A spell of light that strong will take a great deal of power."

  "I have spent the night collecting what will be necessary."

  "There are thousands of warriors on the surface. You can hit them all?"

  "The light will form right above us. Any dwarf that looks towards us will be blinded momentarily. As for the force blast, I will succeed in knocking a good number off their feet, many unconscious. I will not be able to seal the tunnels completely, but it will certainly cause havoc down there."

  Sy finally managed to enter the conversation. "Will they retreat?"

  Enin spoke with cold confidence. "I would bet on it. They will not like what they see."

  Sy asked the only remaining question. "What will it do to you?"

  "It will exhaust me, that is all. I won't be able to cast many spells for a while, but I will certainly survive."

  Holli's doubt over the spell caster's knowledge surfaced one last time. "Do you really know what you're doing?"

  Enin did not answer.

  Sy did not accept the silence. "Well? Is there a danger to us?"

  "No more danger than those approaching dwarves," Enin replied logically.

  Sy glanced down the western streets leading to the town center. Two dozen formations of dwarves crept closer. He estimated close to twelve hundred dwarves closing on his position. He wondered how many stalked him from back alleys. He surveyed the number of his own men. Maybe a few hundred on the ground, he wasn't sure how many archers remained on the rooftops. He couldn't hope to divert this many dwarves, couldn't possibly stop them. They would take the guard quarters and the store of weapons. What would happen if they armed themselves with the crossbows that waited in the stock rooms?

  "Do what you have to do," the captain said firmly.

  "I will prepare the archers to fire after you cast your spells," Holli echoed without emotion. She shimmied up a dangling rope as if it were a tree branch. In a single blink of the eye, she was upon the rooftops and readying her ranged attackers.

  Enin gave her but short notice. Once he saw the elf on her way, his concentration fell upon his own task. He gripped his hands before him, whispered words unintelligible to those around him. He began to glow, brighter than the surrounding lamps. He appeared to burn, a flaming phoenix of white magic. His words grew in volume and power.

  The dwarf invaders came to an abrupt halt. Force commanders stood silent in the streets. They saw the power, and understood. This was a power which vexed them throughout ancient history, a power which far surpassed their own intrinsic strength, a power which they could not harness themselves. Some cursed, some ordered charges. Those that advanced only guaranteed the obliteration of their own warriors as Enin's spell came to full fruition.

  Two glowing spheres of white circled Enin about his whole body. They erupted to the sky like plumes of smoke from a volcano. The circles of pure magical energy found a place over Burbon's heart, low in the sky. They merged. They flared. A midnight sun. Daylight came to this town before sunrise and the dwarves covered their faces in pain.

  A second blast of power emerged from the human wizard. This one shot forward. It hit the ground at the feet of the invaders. The ground crumbled like powdered sugar in a windstorm. Dwarves fell in panic and confusion, still shielding their eyes from the blinding light overhead.

  Holli ordered an immediate attack. Everyone fired, everyone at once. They fired over and over without a thought to conserving ammunition. Arrows and stones fell upon the dwarves from all directions.

  Dwarf force commanders ordered a retreat, but their warriors were blind and disoriented, many unconscious.

  Sy brought his soldiers to a wedge. They stormed the closest group of enemies. Poison tipped spears guaranteed swift death to those dwarves that survived the barrage of projectiles from above. A fierce cry of victory erupted as the humans felt the tide of battle sway decidedly to their side.

  In this swell of emotion, the captain advanced his forces further, determined to take back more territory. Confidence renewed, the soldiers responded with ferocity. Block by block the soldiers moved forward, smashing the remains of the broken dwarf formations. No longer caring about creating diversions, the ground forces eagerly moved into direct and full engagement with the enemy, an enemy that could no longer use its great strength.

  Blinded dwarves at
the forefront of the assault had little chance. Reinforcements were trapped in half destroyed tunnels. They could not see, their strength meant nothing, and the human soldiers fell upon them like hungry jackals. They tried to retreat and regroup, but they moved slowly and without clear vision. Each attempt at escape normally met with disaster as Sy's ground forces began to move with swift vengeance.

  The dwarves at the rear could do little in support. The blinding light burning overhead hampered their ability to offer reinforcements. They struggled to maintain lines of supply and support, but they failed in the face of Enin's spells. The display of such powerful magic crippled dwarf morale, sent them seeking refuge. The force commanders attempted to rally their warriors, but failed as dwarf soldiers worried as to what other spells might break their own forces.

  Voth witnessed this turn of events with frustration. He lacked the knowledge and experience to cope with such a counter-attack. His forces were being decimated as the infernal light gave a distinct advantage to the humans. He looked to the eastern night sky with even greater dismay. A faint glow of orange beckoned his fears. Sunrise was near, and it would add to his problems. The wizard could cancel his own spell of light once the natural sun rose. He could then turn his powerful magic to other responses. The War Com looked to his retreating warriors, they had already suffered casualties mounting in the thousands. A staggering number. His force was down to less than a third of its original size. If he allowed this battle to continue, he risked total annihilation. Reluctantly, bitterly, he ordered full retreat.

  The dwarves took to what was left of their tunnels. Retreat was as unceremonious as expected. Dwarf warriors dropped sullenly into the ground. As the last warriors fled, they did not even take the time to collapse the openings.

  Once more the humans cheered.

  With the dwarf threat evaporated, Enin ended his spell just as the first fiery edge of the sun appeared over the eastern horizon. He did not collapse in exhaustion. He merely stood still, tired and weak, watching the celebration of his victorious neighbors.

  Sy ordered an immediate search of the town. The wounded, both dwarf and human, were quickly taken to makeshift hospitals for care. Any straggling invaders were not pursued or taken prisoner, they were allowed to leave through the tunnels. Sy had no desire to spark further animosity.

  As the last traces of the enemy force dissolved, Sy looked over the carnage. Over a quarter of his town was in ruins. The dead of both sides draped the streets. He was on the side of victory, but he could not find it within himself to celebrate.

  Holli took to his side as he wandered through the streets.

  Sy acknowledged her with praise. "I have to thank you. You did a marvelous job. If we were on our own, I don't think we would have made it."

  "I don't know," Holli responded thoughtfully. "It was your wizard that truly won this battle and it is because of your wizard that I doubt the dwarves will come back."

  "You think this was it, we won't have to go through this again?"

  Holli looked far to the west before replying. Large sections of the wall which once encircled Burbon were now nothing more than rubble. Nothing blocked her view of the edge of Dark Spruce. She thought of her camp, she thought of Petiole, and she thought of Ryson.

  "Ryson has had time to speak to Yave. He has either failed to convince her or he has succeeded. If he has succeeded, there will be no more attacks. If he has failed, Petiole will drop the shadow trees in but three days. The dwarves will not be able to regroup in that time. Even if they did, I doubt they would want to face the wizard which they now know protects this place. No, they will not be back."

  "What do you think happened to Ryson?" Sy asked hopefully.

  "I do not know. I can only suppose he is doing his best to get his sword in the hands of the dwarf queen. If he can succeed in that, I believe we will all see an end to this war. If he does not, I doubt he will be as lucky as we were tonight."

  Again, Sy looked to the destruction of his town. He saw the motionless corpses.

  "Damn."