Magician’s End (52 page)

A second battle had been fought here as well, though by then the city had been left to dust. This time, the Lifestone had been retrieved. Prince Calis, a being combining the blood of human and elf with the magic of the Dragon Lords, had unlocked the Lifestone and released all the pent-up life-force confined inside it, ensuring it could never be used as a weapon. The city’s reputation for ill fortune had been so real that no one dared return, despite the proximity to good water, fine farming land, and potentially rich trade routes. Hal thought it ironic, for he had lost his own duchy to what were essentially starving Keshians looking for good land upon which to raise crops, breed livestock, and live in peace, and here sat a massive stretch of the best farmland in the Kingdom, empty because of an imagined curse. Where once commerce had thrived in the region, now empty villages and abandoned inns marked a territory crossed by unused roads.

And down one such road marched the army of Ran.

Hal turned to Martin and said, ‘Time to start the mummery.’

Martin nodded and hurried off at a crouch so he would not be seen above the ridge. He would pass word to Phillip, then head downslope to where his mount waited, and ride to his command.

A hundred soldiers had worked frantically to erect a false growth of thorn bushes running along the ridge to the right of Hal’s position, behind a string of rocks hauled into place over the last few days by furiously labouring soldiers. They had created a chest-high stonework that hid a hundred archers.

To the right of them waited two hundred heavy footmen from Crydee under Swordmaster Phillip’s command. Behind Hal a squad of soldiers waited, each holding a blockade barrier – simple long logs of wood to which wooden spikes had been affixed. Each barrier required two men to move it, and although a mere annoyance to infantry unless they were very closely packed, they would be a crucial barrier to horses.

Hal peered over the rise and waited until he saw the van of Chadwick’s army reach the agreed-upon point in the road. It was assumed that within a hundred yards of that point, the order to halt and make camp would come, so everyone in Hal’s company watched and waited. The signal to attack would be given by the Duke of Ran himself.

For another minute the column moved ahead, then a figure at the front raised his hand and ordered a halt.

Hal stood up and signalled the attack as the afternoon sun lowered in the west.

Tomas felt a burning pain across his shoulder and realized Draken-Korin’s ebon blade had finally sliced through the golden chain links under his tabard. He’d not deflected it cleanly as he dropped the top of his shield too low and the blade had gained purchase for an instant.

Both warriors sported half a dozen minor wounds and an assortment of bruises. They were still in the stage of gauging one another. The dragons observed the conflict silently.

Twice before these two had faced each other, and twice before Ashen-Shugar had emerged victorious. This time the rage of Draken-Korin the Dragon Lord was wed to the years of experience of a practised mercenary who had endured every type of brawl and battle imaginable. He brought an entirely new array of battle skills to the conflict, and Tomas knew he was equally matched.

Both possessed the power of the Valheru, and fatigue would not become a factor until long after the point where a mortal would have fallen exhausted, but failing concentration might be a factor soon, and that could prove deadly. Tomas stepped back for a moment, braced and waited for the next attack as the sun lowered in the west.

Prince Edward stood in front of his pavilion, his advisors and generals surrounding him. On the field below, the armies of Prince Oliver were deploying. Edward said, ‘Looks as if he brought all the Eastern Kingdoms with him.’

The Duke of Yabon said, ‘Just those that can fight.’

Prince Edward turned to Brendan conDoin. ‘From the look of that column, it will take him another full day to get his forces in place.’

‘Thinking of attacking first?’ asked Lord Sutherland, stroking his grey whiskers.

‘No,’ said Edward. ‘It looks tempting, but I’d rather have Oliver attacking uphill against our prepared positions than abandon them after all this work.’ He turned to Brendan. ‘Son, send word along the line to be wary.’ He glanced westward toward the late-afternoon sun. ‘There’s no chance Oliver will move soon, but we still have to be alert for mischief.’

Brendan saluted and hurried off. ‘Smart lad,’ said Lord Sutherland. ‘I overheard him telling his brothers about some business out at Sorcerer’s Isle and he managed to present some astonishing facts in a very workmanlike way.’

Edward said, ‘He’s a conDoin, like his brothers. They’re a special lot. Always have been, and we’ll need all three of them before this is over.’ He fell silent as the armies of his enemy continued to form up across the field.

Hal hurried down the ridge road to his waiting horse and mounted quickly as Swordmaster Phillip started his part of the attack. From behind the rocky wall at the ridge each man stood and shouted, shaking poles and stakes. Each had attached to it anything that could be found to reflect light. It was Hal’s hope that from Chadwick’s position it would appear as if many more men were dug in at the ridge than were actually there. To heighten the illusion, fires were started and torches run back and forth behind the defenders, making the defence look busy preparing for Chadwick’s attack. The men with the heavy log barriers began rolling them down the road towards the oncoming army of Ran, their embedded short spikes causing them to bounce and careen down the hill.

Hal couldn’t afford the time to look: he rode with five guards around to the west, looping past a series of concealing hills, on a course that would bring him to the south-western corner of Sethanon. As he rode past a squad of heavy cavalry, he waved to Martin, who returned his wave. Hal held up one hand, signalling for his men to wait, then pointed at his own eyes and then towards the field, indicating that Martin should watch for the agreed-upon deployment of the enemy before acting. Martin signalled he understood.

Chadwick did exactly as Hal had hoped, ordering his company up the road in column. The horses were tired and the company was almost entirely heavy cavalry, supported by a dozen bowmen in the van. The faster archers moved out swiftly uphill, only to discover a careening, tumbling mass of wooden logs with spikes rolling down the road, bouncing towards them.

The horses reared and the riders tried frantically to turn out of harm’s way, but discovered the road had been bounded on the right by a heavy berm upon which grew a massive thicket of thorns and briars. Suddenly half a dozen archers behind the wall stood up and started firing on the lead horsemen.

The column of infantry moved left, the soldiers leading the charge instinctively moving away from the horses on their right. They stepped off the road and there found a narrow strip of ground bordered by an equally heavy thicket, leaving them scant room to move. Then suddenly the ground on the other side of the thicket seemed to erupt with archers, who appeared to have jumped up out of the ground. Hidden from sight by a trench frantically dug over three days behind the heavy screening of thorn, Ty had waited with a company of two dozen archers, lying beneath a cloth disguised with earth and grass.

What had begun as a steady march up the road was now grinding to a milling confusion as the soldiers and horsemen in the rear had to halt as those ahead stopped. The infantry on the left turned to face Ty’s squad, as there was an enemy they could see. Someone shouted an order to charge and they set out, using their shields to crash through the heavy thicket.

Suddenly men were falling and screaming as they plunged into deep holes filled with sharpened stakes. Hal had not had enough time to dig many of them, but the few that the men from Ran encountered were halting the charge as effectively as if the infantry had hit a stone wall.

Caught in a cross-fire of bowmen to their east and from behind the wall to the south, the infantry tried to re-order as sergeants shouted commands in the chaos. The horsemen were taking constant fire from the archers above them and could not get their column turned around. Ty’s men would keep up a steady fire as they withdrew to the south-east, and at Ty’s command would turn and run up and behind the sheltering rocks where Phillip’s infantry waited, should Ran’s army try to flank the archers.

Then, from the rear of the stalled infantry and cavalry, a column of horsemen under Hokada’s leadership and wearing the grey and blue of LaMut and the grinning wolf’s head on their tabards, erupted from locations within the abandoned city. The thirty archers took aim at the rear of the heavy cavalry who were trying to discover what confusion ahead was delaying them, and unleashed a barrage of arrows. Four horsemen fell from their saddles as the rear of the column turned and offered pursuit.

Exactly as Hal had hoped.

A full third of Chadwick’s heavy cavalry took off after the LaMutian cavalry in an attempt to crush them by numbers and armour. Hokada led his men in a looping course to the north and then east that brought them around on the other side of the infantry column. He shouted a command and his men turned and loosed their arrows, then spurred their mounts away at a gallop without looking at the results.

From his position Hal could see a pair of riders taken out of saddle before he lost sight of that aspect of the conflict. He rode through a part of the western foubourg and the open gates to the main city, where his heavy cavalry waited out of sight. He signalled for them to fall in behind him and took his command down the central avenue of Sethanon, leading them out of the eastern gate half a mile away and into the heart of Chadwick’s column.

As Hal had planned, Martin rode his column into the bunched-up cavalry a hundred feet away so that the heavy riders from Ran were slammed by two attacking columns within moments. The horses screamed as they were pushed into the milling infantry that was now frantically trying not to be crushed by the falling horses and the attacking men of Crydee and LaMut.

Ran’s officers were gathered in a knot at the head of the column, separated by the mass of troops gathered between them and the attackers. Hal could not make out a single badge so he could not tell which rider was Chadwick, but he saw they were all in a frenzy to get away from the bowshots coming from the head of the column, despite being blocked by the mass of their own men.

Hal tried to shout an order, but suddenly had a footman from Ran grabbing at his stirrup, attempting to unseat him. He had lost the advantage of mobility and faced the same risk any other rider did – to be dragged from his mount – which would likely mean death.

He slashed down at the footman’s head and struck a glancing blow, but it was enough to force the man to let go of his stirrup. He shouted, ‘Back!’, turned his horse, and retreated.

His men began to disengage and as they turned to face him, he shouted, ‘To me! Rally to me!’

His original hundred riders were now whittled to about ninety, from what Hal could see. ‘Form up for charge!’ he shouted as his men drew in around him and turned to face the infantry that followed. ‘We have to hit them before they form a shield wall!’ he shouted. ‘Charge!’

Now battle was fully joined and whatever advantage he had had was gone. This would quickly be decided by determination and luck.

Pug and his companions emerged from the vortex to a scene of incredible struggle. Before them stood an energy dome of ruby hue, completely covering a city.

‘I’ve seen its like before,’ said Pug.

‘Where?’ asked Miranda.

‘At Sethanon, during the Great Uprising, when the Dragon Lords tore open a rift in the sky …’ He looked around. ‘Macros?’

‘Not here,’ said Nakor. ‘I guess he wasn’t fated to be here at the end.’

‘We could have used his might,’ said Magnus.

‘We don’t know how much had been given to him,’ said Miranda. ‘They may have used him up just to show us what he did.’

‘Who is “they”?’ wondered Nakor. ‘Will we ever know?’

‘I doubt it,’ said Pug. ‘While our gods may be mere personifications of powers, those are prodigious powers, and Macros made it clear there’s a higher mind in control. For lack of a better term, the ultimate power serves.’

‘Well,’ said Nakor. ‘The ultimate certainly has dropped us into a mess.’

Pug took a moment to make some coherent sense of the scene before him. Then he said, ‘Miranda, you and Nakor get as close to that red dome as you can and see if you can decipher what manner of magic is being employed. You’ve seen more magic on more planes than we have.’

They nodded. Miranda put her hand on Nakor’s shoulder and they vanished.

Pug looked around and pointed, and Magnus turned to see a familiar figure in the distance. He put his hand on his father’s shoulder and instantly they stood next to Ruffio.

Ruffio said, ‘Thank the gods! We’re at our wits’ end here.’

The younger magician was in the company of what appeared to be two elven Spellweavers, who nodded greeting to Pug. Ruffio summed up the situation and before he had finished, Miranda and Nakor reappeared.

‘It’s a spell, but nothing I’ve come across before,’ said Miranda. ‘It’s driven by a level of energy that comes from another plane, so it’s just growing.’

‘It’s familiar to me,’ said Nakor. ‘It echoes other things we’ve encountered from the Dread. But the way in which it’s been turned into a trap is … ingenious.’

Ruffio said, ‘It’s the taredhel magicians, their ’mancers. They seemed to know what to do the moment this unleashing of whatever is inside that dome began.’

Pug looked around and said, ‘Find me one.’

‘Over there,’ said Ruffio. He led Pug down the hill and the others followed.

The five magicians came to a circle of a dozen elven magic-users: eight of the taredhel galasmancers and four other magic specialists. They were all standing with their eyes closed, seemingly reaching out to the magicians down the hillside to provide them with aid.

‘Asleum,’ said Ruffio, but the old magician didn’t respond.

‘Leave him,’ said Pug. ‘I will find a way to speak with him.’