Battle Mage: Winds of Change (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 11) (75 page)

Avoiding a straight answer, Liev replied, "We pushed them back here and the north seems to be in hand as well, but we could use the assistance of your dead men."

Lifting an eyebrow in surprise, Palose allowed the calculated change in his expression even if it captured his true surprise and intrigue that the warlock would need something that he appeared to despise so much. "My dead men and wraiths are needed specifically? For what purpose that any other unit couldn't be used."

Puffing out a breath of annoyance at being questioned, even if it was more a need for information than rebelling against the ranking leader on the field; Lord Liev stated quickly, "There seems to be a wizard capable of controlling minds with her voice to the south. Even though they have ears, your undead belong to you and your spell. As long as you remain beyond the range of the wizard's voice, they will follow your commands instead of this other magic.

"Take your creatures there and push them back to remove this disruption of our plans. We will meet you at the village walls and finish off the enemy once this wizard falls."

Palose wanted to mock the man for his inability to defeat their foes; but that would be an act of suicide. For all the damage to the man's armor, the dark mage looked worse yet. The mizard had given him a scrap worthy of a raven or wizard hunter. He was also verging on being exhausted after raising the soldiers he had and fighting Sebastian.

Pulling some cheese from his pack, Palose appeared to be stalling, which he was to a point as he returned the lord's stare. The dark mage needed to renew what he could of his magical strength, however, or he would be unable to defend himself. The wraiths were self sufficient once raised, but there was a slight drain on his magic from the other soldiers. They weren't truly alive and a wizard's magic sustained them even if separated until he decided to release their spirits and bodies once more.

"As you wish, my lord," Palose finally acceded to the request. "If only my power can end this for you, then it will be as you ask."

"I don't ask. This is an order that you will follow and as to needing you to end the threat; I could do it myself, but I am needed elsewhere on the field to make sure the enemy is beaten this day. Now get to work for the emperor."

"For the emperor," the dark mage nodded and turned to walk away as if he was in no rush at all. His magic tightened the reins on his undead forces. Without a need to call to them, the men and monsters came to him from where they held their position to the north. They had driven Sebastian's comrades back, but let the remainder of the army continue the attack. Without Palose to drive them, the wraiths chose to hold a safe position for their leader to return. He had simply made their efforts moot this time.

It didn't take long for the platoon of soldiers, led by the slow looking armored viles, to return to him.

He looked to the wraiths and took a count of his remaining undead. They appeared to have taken no losses though a few were a bit tattered from the fight.

"Lord Liev requests that we find and kill some wizard on the south side of the battlefield. Apparently he is using magic to control minds. I will not be able to get as close, but you all should be able to force them to retreat since your minds are guarded by my magic."

The warlocks turned wraiths heard his words and had enough will to question his order as they looked for information as well. Nalack asked, "What kind of magic is this wizard using that it can hold back the warlocks of the Wizard Hunters? I have never heard of magic that makes multiple minds change to turn against their fellows."

Giving the elder warlock a shrug, Palose answered, "I don't know. Lord Liev ordered it, so we will go and prove that our magic isn't something to look down upon. Come, we need to push the enemy back to the village walls to meet up with the rest of the army when they finish off the other defenders. We will simply deal with this wizard and move on as he ordered."

Chapter 39- The Final Defense

Falconi Martina stepped in front of Katya catching an arrow on her blue mage shield. The young girl continued to sing, but the mage could hear the early rasp in her voice as her vocal cords were beginning to strain with the magic of her song. She was impressed with the girl, who was supposed to just be a novice; but wielded powerful magic like she had been born to it.

At thirteen, Katya wielded diplomacy magic on the battlefield in a way that the falconi had never witnessed before and had to admit that it rivaled what was being done with the Hollow Swords in its way. Maybe she was even more powerful, since the magic the swords could use was limited.

Iris cast an air spell pushing at the enemy just beyond the limits of Katya's magic spell. Wind tore at the dark armored soldiers finding openings even in the armor designed to stop elemental attacks and absorb them. The apprentice was nearly as impressive as her younger friend and Martina realized that she had not been sent with the weakest wizards just to protect them. These children were as dangerous as any wizards she had seen.

Martina's eyes caught a shift in the enemy. Those who were forced to continue falling back or risk falling under the girl's spell parted for a new enemy. Three armored viles led the way pushing aside any man too slow for them with more soldiers at their backs.

"Be ready, girls, something is coming and they don't look concerned about Katya's magic," the falconi warned. There was no doubt that whatever was going on with these viles, and those following them; it was likely believed that they wouldn't fall to Katya's spell.

The three viles came into contact with the men controlled by Katya's magic. Orcs, goblins and even trolls were brushed aside. Those not cut down by the long claws of the viles, were killed by those in their wake. They didn't seem to care what happened to the pawns of the diplomacy wizard. Perhaps they viewed them as failures insignificant enough to slay because they were already as good as dead.

Martina placed the sword tip on the earth making sure that she was between Katya and the enemy.

"Fire sword," she ordered as the power flowed into the blade from the ground changing her weak magic into a spell worthy of a powerful wizard. She wasn't as good at magic as a wizard would be and had to ration her power more, even using the earth; but Martina knew the Hollow Sword was deadly in her hands.

The closest vile was her target. Flicking the blade in its direction, fire rushed forward taking out a pair of mind controlled soldiers in the process. A second more powerful use of fire made a roar as it held its integrity all the way to strike the vile with a torrent of flame driven by the sword and the mage's willpower.

It stopped and the falconi waited a moment to see if the spell had eliminated this new enemy the same way it had just killed the two soldiers in front of the beast.

Through the fire rushed several soldiers ignoring the flames. The vile crossed the fire on the field coming back into her vision as well. Flames burned fur, but the monster didn't seem to notice or care. It continued to stride forward. Martina had eliminated the last resistance between the women and these men, unfortunately, so she prepared to strike again when a strange chill went through her.

She had felt this feeling only once before, long ago, when she was still just a falcon running missions north of the wall. Dead men raised by a necromancer had been used against her patrol. Few of her squad had survived, but the falconi had been one of those and knew that fire was the best weapon against such creatures. They wore the night armor, however, and she watched her next attack and those from Iris strike these undead soldiers to be absorbed into the blackness of the night.

"If you can make your puppets attack these monsters, do it quickly, Katya!" she ordered frantically hoping the diplomacy novice had that sort of control.

The men fighting against their army started to adjust, but the undead met their blades tearing through the line in less than a minute. The sight of undead armored viles tearing men in half sickened her, but worse, they kept coming in spite of Katya's song.

"Your spell doesn't seem to be working on them, Katya. We're going to need to pull back. These are undead soldiers. With that blasted armor, I can't stop them with the sword either."

Iris surprised her stepping forward to grasp the hand holding the Hollow Sword. Pressed to the ground, the girl ordered a spell, "Light."

The runes filled shining with the light of the wizard's spell. Power filled it from the earth uniting the four: sword, earth, wizard and mage.

"If you break their armor, then you should be able to destroy them, right?"

Hoping the apprentice was correct, Martina leveled the weapon at her enemies. Light flashed brilliantly leaving the sword to strike the undead soldiers. Armor cracked, but there weren't as many breaks as expected. The armor's weakness couldn't fully be exploited on these undead soldiers; but the falconi tried again repeatedly until the light in the sword was used up.

The enemy didn't seem affected by the light beyond their armor. Their eyes were already dead. Sound didn't affect these monsters which had once been alive either and Martina felt fear.

Again Iris touched her hand guiding it to the ground. A longer spell concluded drawing in the power from the earth and Martina felt her strength drain more than before. This was wizard magic and, even shared with Iris, the mage was affected by the use of its power.

"These are seeker winds. They will find the cracks and cut through the openings, falconi. Maybe they will help?"

"Get ready to run, you two," the battle mage stated to the girls. She had to forsake them in an attempt to stop the dead from killing the living.

"Reflex," Martina warded her body readying for a fight as the mage ran forward to meet the first of this new breed of soldier.

Their movements appeared to be sluggish, but the mage felt slow as well. Her perception of movement and time was altered, but her body couldn't match the pace her mind set. Still, the sword moved faster to the minds of those watching the blade in the falconi's hand.

Runes rose from her left arm. Sebastian had made sure that even the wizards had at least the rune shield; but as her arm and legs started to increase speed beyond even what the reflex spell could do, some of the other runes kicked in amping up the battle mage. Her smile turned grim and the blade with its magic moved with a speed that the closest men couldn't hope to match.

The wind released and her eyes could almost follow the invisible air as it cut at the closest soldier. An orc, she could see a strange glow in its eyes as she attacked. A lack of focus was there and an orange glow from the magic used to animate the corpse as well.

Some of the wind was absorbed and cracks in the armor began to heal with the power of the element, but there were cracks and some made it through. As the Hollow Sword found the dead orc's throat, Martina thought that for all the power of the runes, it was the metal alone which found the mark. The front of its throat was slit open. Blood that seemed to boil as it touched the air sprayed from the wound hitting the ground and the bodies of the dead lying there.

Armor pitted, grass boiled and burned, and bare skin felt pain as the acid like blood bit into her skin.

Martina cried out. She didn't remember the dead having blood that burned.

The wounded soldier's sword found an opening piercing her right arm through the leather armor. Few battle mages wore heavier, but Martina had believed the rune shield would protect her. A stone armor spell could have been used, but it would slow her down also, so she hadn't bothered.

The pain scorned her belief that she didn't need the standard battle mage spell. Sebastian had given her all this new magic and the sword. The falconi didn't think she would need such a basic spell.

It wasn't over yet, however. Martina continued to move and the Hollow Sword struck the undead soldier again. The wind seemed guided by her mind this time. As the air turned to blades, it cut through the neck splitting the bone of the upper spine smoothly. Separated from its shoulders, the head spun through the air landing behind the rest of the body; but it was quickly joined by the rest as the orc's legs collapsed. The strings cut with the blow to the neck. The puppet fell.

Unable to bask in the satisfaction of her kill, Martina ignored her pain to fend off the next soldiers. They seemed faster. One appeared to be an elf though the second looked human enough.

Martina used her shield and cut at one opponent while guarding with the runes. How the armored vile seemed to just appear behind the soldiers from nowhere, the falconi would never know. The woman just knew that her reflexes were barely enough to avoid the nasty claws capable of slicing through stone as they swung for her head.

Her shield split, but as the mage jumped back, the runes refilled the gashes. As long as she had magic and strength to energize the runes, Martina would have protection; but the armored vile was too dangerous and powerful. It also wasn't alone.

The falconi continued to fight, but the group of soldiers swarmed around her. Targeting the mage with the Hollow Sword, the enemy sought to remove the woman from the fight. Without the sword, the wizards behind her would have no hope of holding back the enemy.

"Run!" she screamed as the mage's momentum turned her towards the young wizards. Whirling and cutting at the enemy, Martina began to retreat towards the first defenses of the village. Swords reached for her, but the shield and her magic continued to save her.