The Wrath

by D Glenn Casey

  Kerrick’s staff came to life and he cast another fireball at Agoroth and Claudious jumped in next to the bear and cast a shield to protect his hairy friend.

  “You’re going to get yourself roasted, old friend.”

  “What? From that puny excuse for wizard? I not think so.”

  He and Claudious both cast fireballs at the red dragon and Kerrick decided to pull back and get out of their range. At that point he did something they didn’t expect. He flew a little ways to the south and started flying circles over the road that came into Rosemoor from Braedon. Jarell and Pendivall saw it and couldn’t figure out what he was doing.

  Then they saw a line of troops moving up the road toward the village.

  “That’s Taynor and his troops!” yelled Claudious.

  “It’s about time,” thought Jarell.

  Pendivall looked at the group of troops coming in and said, “They made good time, didn’t they? I didn’t expect them until tomorrow morning.”

  “That’s okay,” said Jarell. “We can use all the help we can get.”

  “Seems to be an awful lot of them.”

  As they watched the soldiers coming up the road, they began to have hope that things would start to swing their way.

  When the troops reached the bend in the road, near Therese’s house, something happened that caught everyone off-guard. The troops began cutting down the Wyndweir troops that were in Rosemoor. They started firing arrows at Jarell’s troops from behind, killing dozens of them within seconds.

  Jarell and Pendivall had no idea what was happening, but then Jarell perceived a massive presence in his head.

  “All of Taynor’s troops are dead!”

  The voice of Venia came through and cut right to the center of his mind like a flash of lightning.

  “Oh no,” said Pendivall.

  “These are impostors?” yelled Jarell.

  “It would seem so, master. That answers the question of where the other five hundred troops of Kerrick were.”

  Jarell yelled at Claudious and told him to send the royals to that battle and try to force them back and out of the village. Just as the royals were about to reach the battle, another group of soldiers came running up the road from the south. Instantly it became clear where the two hundred royals under Kerrick’s command had been.

  Jong and Belgard came to a stop and looked at the approaching Easternesse royals, knowing they were well outmatched.

  “Well, brother,” said Belgard, “it seems we may find out what’s on the other side of the veil this very day.”

  “Should be fun.”

  Belgard laughed half-heartedly and they began running toward where the fight was going on already. They needed to see if they could cut the numbers of the regular troops down and give themselves a more realistic chance of fighting off the incoming royals. As they waded into the impostor troops, some of which were wearing blood covered Wyndweirian battlewear, they began hacking and slashing.

  The Easternesse royals were still about a minute away and the Wyndweirian royals had cut the numbers of Kerrick’s troops by about half. They were able to leave the rest for their regular troops and started massing their own royals on the road, waiting for the others to get there.

  “No sense running out to meet them. Allow them to run here and wear themselves out.”

  As they stood and waited, an enormous ball of fire erupted in the midst of the incoming royals.

  “What in the world?” said Jong.

  Just then, a green dragon slashed through the air over the royals and cut loose with another ball of fire, taking out about half their number before they had time to react and scatter.

  “A little warm over there, is it?!” yelled Belgard.

  All the royals massed in front of him raised their swords and gave a cheer to Hilde and Venia as they made a tight turn to pass over the other royals again. As they were getting themselves lined up for the attack, Kerrick fired a green-white fireball at the two of them and came extremely close to striking them.

  Jarell yelled, “Get out of there!”

  Venia turned and headed west away from the road and Kerrick and his dragon pursued them across the sky. He wanted to bring this woman down and end any advantage they might have from the air.

  Agoroth raised up and roared, shaking the entire earth. This brought the battle around him to a complete standstill for a moment. But, only for a moment.

  Jarell and Pendivall both cast fireballs at Kerrick in hopes of convincing him to break off his pursuit of the green dragon, but he was fixated on her and was not going to permit anything to stand in his way.

  As Agoroth observed what was happening, he forgot to pay attention to what was happening around him and an ogre stepped up and slammed him with a heavy battleaxe. It caught Agoroth just below his left shoulder and sliced his left leg clear to the bone. He went down from the blow and rolled on the ground. He couldn’t regain his footing, having lost the use of that foot. He looked up and saw the ogre was preparing to deal him a death blow, when a spear flew into the center of his chest. The ogre looked down at the spear and wondered at it. It didn’t look right to him. Being as dumb as ogres were, it took his mind a few extra seconds to realize what had happened and for his heart to stop beating. He fell backward into the pile of troops behind him, with the spear sticking straight up in the air.

  Before he lost consciousness, Agoroth had been able to look over and see Blair running toward him.

  “Master Agoroth! What can I do?”

  “You throw spear?”

  “Yes, it was all I had,” said the young apprentice.

  “Thank you,” said the large bear as he passed out.

  Blair looked over Agoroth’s devastating wound and experienced a massive sense of inadequacy about what to do. At that moment he remembered back to the night Garlan had visited him in the house of the healer and told him he had faith in him to be able to become a master wizard.

  He reached out his hand and placed it over the wound and closed his eyes. He reached deep down inside his mind and began working on staunching the bleeding. After he had that taken care of, he started working on repairing the muscles of the mighty bear. He was thankful for Jarell’s training in healing more than anything else he taught him.

  He worked as fast as he could, with the battle raging all around him. A group of swordsmen took up positions around him and protected him while he worked. Being just an apprentice, it took him a little longer than normal to complete the healing process, but eventually he got it done.

  With a bit of grunting and groaning, Agoroth awoke and clambered to his feet and flexed his left, front leg. It was stiff, but it was usable again.

  “Thank you, master wizard.”

  Blair smiled, “I’m not a master. Yet.”

  “You are master in my eyes.”

  Agoroth turned his attention back to the battle and rose up on his hind legs and let out a roar that shook all the earth. Kerrick’s troops that were anywhere near him began backing up and the Wyndweirian troops began thrusting them back and killing them.

  Jarell and Pendivall cringed at the roar, as they watched in helplessness as Kerrick chased Venia and Hilde all over the sky. Every time they tried to hit the red dragon with fireballs, they missed and even came close to taking down Venia a couple of times.

  “Hilde, get her out of here!” commanded Jarell into her mind.

  She looked down at her husband, as she fought to stay in her seat as Venia evaded another fireball from the dark wizard.

  “Go! Now!”

  “Let’s go, Venia,” yelled Hilde.

  Venia turned and headed to the south, just as Jarell fired off another fireball. This time he was rewarded with hitting the red dragon, but only on one of its wingtips. But, it was enough for Hilde and Venia to get away and cause the dark wizard to end the chase.

  Jarell returned his attention back to the battle and saw the royals were now engaged with their brothers from the land of Easternesse and
it was not going well. Even though Venia and Hilde had slashed their numbers, their own royals were vastly outnumbered. He could see Jong and Belgard’s men falling quickly.

  He looked around and saw the battle was going badly on all fronts. He looked at Pendivall and said, “This is not good.”

  Pendivall looked at him and reached out and put a hand on his shoulder.

  “We need to fall back now!”

  Jarell shook his head, but he knew the older wizard was correct. They needed to abandon Rosemoor and try to salvage as many troops as they could. He looked around for Claudious and saw he was neck deep in the middle of the battle near the moors.

  Pendivall saw that, too and took off running to help his friend.

  Jarell looked all around and decided right now was the time.

  He yelled at Jong and commanded him and his troops to fall back. Just as he was about to issue the order to retreat, one of the enemy royals stepped forward and slashed at Jong with his heavy broadsword, causing Jong to duck and then stumble. As he tried to right himself, the royal went to stab his sword right through his chest and Jong knew that today he would see the veil.

  Just as he was about to feel the bite of the sword, another sword slashed across in from of him, knocking the enemy’s sword away. Jong looked up to see Belgard step between him and the enemy soldier, driving him back. As he was pushing himself up, to rejoin the fight, another enemy royal used the distraction to stab at Belgard.

  Jong saw the point of the sword come out Belgard’s back and saw his friend’s body go limp.

  “No!” he yelled as he drove his own sword through the face of the first royal, killing him instantly.

  The second enemy royal went to pull his sword from Belgard’s chest so he could fight Jong, but Belgard possessed enough strength left to seize the man’s sword and prevent him from pulling it out. This gave Jong enough time to ram his sword through the throat of the enemy royal. He stepped forward, as his sword slid all the way through to the hilt, and stared into the royal’s eyes.

  “You should have stayed home, you son of a pig.”

  The soldier could do nothing, but gurgle at Jong. He saw the fire in the captain’s eyes and for a brief moment, his mind registered that Jong had just uttered the truth. He should have stayed home. At least then, he wouldn’t be dying alone and forgotten on some far away battlefield.

  Jong pulled the sword from his throat and the soldier fell in a heap on the ground, dead before his face slammed into the blood-soaked earth at his feet.

  Jong dropped to his knees, pulling Belgard up and into his arms. The taller captain’s eyes were beginning to fade and there weren’t any healers nearby.

  “Just take it easy, brother. We’ll get you some help and have you patched up in no time.”

  Belgard reached up and wrapped his fingers into the collar of Jong’s tunic and pulled his face down and closer.

  “Don’t mourn for me, captain,” choked out Belgard. “I have enjoyed a worthy, long life.”

  “And you have many years left in front of you.”

  “No, brother, I don’t. I can feel the sword has done its worst and shall not live to draw breath for one more minute.”

  “Don’t say that!” implored Jong.

  “Captain, take those that remain and defend the rest of the troops. Get them out of here. The retreat has been sounded. Heed its call.”

  “Where should we go? We’ve never had to retreat before.”

  “We’ve never had to fight royals before,” gasped Belgard as another round of pain stabbed through him.

  Next he pulled Jong even closer.

  “Send the dragon riders over the sea."

  Jong looked into his eyes, with a question on his face.

  Belgard looked at him and gasped, "You know what I mean.”

  Jong nodded and closed his eyes. He couldn’t believe they were admitting defeat and looking to desert the battlefield. Never in the history of the royal soldiers had that ever happened.

  He opened his eyes as Belgard started choking.

  Very softly, Belgard said, “You may be the shortest of us all, brother, but I was honored to fight alongside you.”

  Jong smiled a little and then said, “When you get to the other side of the veil, try not to win every battle before I get there.”

  Belgard smiled and then let out the last breath his chest would ever hold. The light went out in his eyes and Jong knew he was gone.

  In the midst of the battlefield, one royal soldier bowed his head and wept for his slain friend. The fight raged on around him, but he was lost in his own sorrow. The other royals did whatever was necessary to protect their one, remaining captain.

  After a moment of grief, Jong laid Belgard’s head back down on the ground and jumped to his feet. He had the flame of a thousand fires burning in his eyes and when he pulled his sword from its scabbard, the enemy started backing away.

  It did them no good. Jong charged into them, followed by the remainder of his men and began slashing and cutting his way through the enemy royals. Never had royals taken the side of a dark wizard or evil king and Jong was ready to make any that did, pay for it with their lives.

  Before Jong knew what had happened, Cragg and his men had joined his charge and they began pushing forward. They were still hopelessly outnumbered, but it didn’t seem to matter to any of them.

  Cragg battled his way to Jong’s side and yelled, “We have been given the order to retreat, sir! We need to go!”

  “Run from a fight?” Jong yelled back at him.

  “The regular troops are getting slaughtered! It is our task to get them out of here and protect them! If we let these mongrels cut through us, and they will, they will go through the regulars with ease and then they will take out everyone else, including the healers!”

  That was all Jong needed to hear. Losing the healers would be unacceptable, especially since his wife was one of them. She’d give him all kinds of hell if he let any of her girls get hurt or killed.

  He looked around and saw his and Belgard’s men were having a tough time of it and wouldn’t last too much longer. Much as he loathed the idea, it was time to order the retreat that Jarell and Pendivall had already ordered.

  He looked at Cragg and yelled, “Get us out of here!”

  Cragg began bellowing at the men to retreat and defend the regular troops. The royals began turning and retreating from the battlefield and gathering the swordsmen and bowmaidens with them. Pendivall saw the retreat taking place and cast a couple of fireballs at the front lines of the enemy royals to slow their chase.

  Jong and his men retreated through the village, heading for the fields just to the west. It was Jong’s intention to head into the wilderness on the other side of the fields.

  As they commenced their retreat, Jong looked over and could see the wizards were being attacked by a band of enemy royals and he turned toward them. He had come into the battle from behind and was able to take out a number of Kerrick’s royals before they knew what had happened.

  Pendivall was trying to cast lightning bolts at the offending troops, but their shields seemed to have some sort of ability to protect them from his casts. Every time he cast, the lightning would just scatter on their shields and dissipate.

  Symon was fighting near his brother, trying to protect him and prevent him from being attacked from behind. Jarell had foregone his usual casts with his staff and he was fighting with his own sword, driving the royals back and away from Pendivall.

  “We’ve ordered the retreat, sire!” yelled Jong. “It’s time to get you and Pendivall out of here!”

  Jarell yelled at him, “Get Pendivall out of here and take Claudious, too!”

  Jong looked around and saw Claudious about a hundred yards away, surrounded by swordsmen and bowmaidens. He had a couple of the apprentices with him and was using the Staff of Drumfire to great effect. The enemy royals may have had shields that protected them from magic casts, but these regular troops had no such pro
tection.

  Every time Claudious would point and cast, half a dozen enemy troops would go flying through the air. Jong turned and grabbed Pendivall by the arm and yelled, “We need to get you out of here! Let’s go!”

  The old wizard nodded and began to follow Jong toward the rear and the group containing Claudious.

  “Not exactly our day, is it?” said Pendivall.

  “No, sire, it’s not. Let’s live through this and maybe tomorrow will look exceedingly better to our eyes!”

  They finally reached Claudious and his group and they began moving to the west. Jong intended to have them follow the same route the first royal soldiers had taken, along with the swordsmen and bowmaidens. As they moved through the wreckage of the encampment, Jong could see the healers were busy trying to help all those that were injured. He headed toward them with the intention of gathering them up and taking them out of there.

  That was going to be a much easier task to plan than it was going to be to carry out. Asking the healers to abandon what they were doing and run for the tree line was about as easy as asking the royals to stop fighting.

  Jong made a beeline to his wife and seized her by the arm.

  “We need to get you and the other healers out of here!”

  Cryssn looked up at him and was ready to tear into him.

  “We can’t just leave these injured souls here!”

  “We can and we will, woman! We are losing the battle! If we stay, we all die, including all of your healers!”

  Cryssn stopped and looked around and saw all of her girls scattered around the small area they had brought the injured to. Some were looking at her, with fear in their eyes. They could see the battle winding its way down the hill toward them and if it reached them, they would become slaves to the enemy.

  With tears streaming down her face, she issued the command to abandon their duties and follow the royals into the treeline. Some did not want to go, but the injured they were working on implored them to leave, to save themselves. With many tears they all began running to keep up with the royal soldiers, who swore to protect them with their very lives.