Master Mage (21 page)

After quickly putting up the tents,
Thad formed up his men but didn’t advance them forward. He had made
sure these shields not only covered the front but top as well. They
didn’t reach high, but it was enough to protect the soldiers from
any arrows.

As he had expected, the Rane army
loosed six volleys of arrows before deciding that it was not going
to be a workable course of action and ordered their men to charge.
Thad had been slightly worried about the rain of arrows as the
shields were weakening quickly, and if they had fired a few more,
then it would have been disastrous.

Using a quick spell, Thad ordered the
shields to lower and the metal orbs to return to him. It cost him a
few extra hours of work when creating them with the added
enchantments, but it made securing them before a battle much
easier.

As the Rane forces rushed them en
masse, Thad decided it was time to start his true point in the
battle. “Men, ready bows. Fire two volleys. Those up front will
make one strike against the first foe to reach them, then turn and
run. It doesn’t matter if you wound or kill your opponent. Just
run!” Thad yelled as he readied his own magic so that he could
strike with one strong blow before the planned escape.

It didn’t take long for the Rane forces
to cover the distance between them. Thad looked among them and
found his target, a large man wearing full armor. It was odd for
Thad to see such a man on the ground as most of them were too heavy
to move outside of horseback. Besides, the armor the man stood out
easily being nearly as tall as any elf he had seen.

Thad called forth his magic, letting it
flow into him as he directed the currents. Once he had enough
magical energy built up, Thad formed it into a massive ball of
energy above the large warrior. It looked like a small blue sun
hanging in the sky, and more than one soldier screamed in terror as
it popped into existence above them, but the large warrior seemed
to pay it little heed.

Once the Rane forces were only a few
strides away from his army, Thad dropped the ball of energy and
watched as it shattered like a glass ball, sending tendrils of
energy through any living being around. When it was over and the
blue sparks died away, Thad was amazed to see the large warrior
still standing and looking as if nothing had happened.

Thad had the urge to send more magical
attacks toward the man but knew that it would only waste time. Now
that he was closer, Thad could see the edge of white metal lining
the man’s armor. Cursing to himself, Thad drew his sword and
prepared to flee.

The rest of the battle went much to
plan. As soon as the army was within reach of their swords, the
Farlan soldiers attacked, then dropped back, running at full speed
away from the battlefield. Thad heard the screams of those who had
fallen behind or had not moved quickly enough but didn’t have the
luxury of turning around to see their grisly fate.

By the time they had eluded the Rane
forces, Thad’s chest burned hot, and his stomach churned. They had
followed much farther than he or Killian had expected, but they had
given up in the end. Thad didn’t know if he was happy about that
fact or not. If they had continued their pursuit, then the
secondary force, not far away, would have cut down their pursuers,
but it would have been at a heavy cost.

CHAPTER XVI

Thad looked out from the roof of the
Emeriss manor at the Rane army camped not far away. Their
coordinated hit-and-run attacks had worked and slowed down the
opposing army, but not nearly enough. In just nine days, they had
reached their main camp. Now Bache was planning to fall back to
Bailwood, which lay about half the distance between the Rane border
and the Farlan capital.

Thad had traveled through Bailwood but
had never stopped at the small farming village. With less than
fifty families living there, its only real luxury was its large inn
that often housed traveling merchants.

Thad felt the brimming of hopelessness
as he looked out at the more than forty thousand men. Even at more
than three miles away, they were clearly visible. They would reach
the manor by nightfall, but they would find the bulk of the army
already gone with only a small token army of five hundred awaiting
them.

Over the past few days, Thad had picked
the fastest runners to be part of his force. They wore no armor and
carried only light weapons. Since he had implemented his new plans
and started choosing his members himself, he had lost no more than
ten men in a single strike.

Even should the dwarves and
Vathari come, do you really think you can win against that massive
force? If the dwarves fielded every fighter they had, it would only
amount to less than two thousand swords. The Vathari have more
warriors and mages, but their numbers are not large either. By
design, they could muster four to five thousand from what I
remember. Those two added to your force would still leave you at
less than half the size of the force you are currently
facing.

“What would you have me do?” Thad asked
angrily.

Leave before you find your
death. You don’t owe these men or women anything. There is no sense
dying in a war that has already been lost.

“Thuraman, it seems that with the
passing of each day, you care less about those around us,” Thad
replied, shutting his mind off from his staff. Every day, the staff
suggested he run away and leave those who counted on him behind. He
never thought his staff evil, but it seemed it didn’t see the world
and the people within it the same as he did.

With the Rane army now close, Thad
jumped from the roof of the manor and let his magic carry him down
to safety. Thad knew that it was a little wasteful of him to use
his magic in such a manner, but there was little that could match
the thrill he felt as he fell toward the ground only to be slowed
and stopped only inches before impact.

“Tuck, let Reeve know the army will be
here within a few hours,” Thad told his friend through the magical
ring on his hand. He had tried to make more of the rings, but the
experiment had failed. He knew that with more time, he could have
made it work.

Thad formed up his troops and waited
for the coming army using a new enchantment that Marcus had thought
up to aid in fooling the enemy. Besides the shield orbs that would
protect them from arrows, more than a dozen soldiers wore small
disks that created four illusionary soldiers around them. To Thad’s
eyes, it looked as if the soldier stood in front of a
mirror.

Like the previous battles, when the two
forces neared, they both fired a volley of arrows. When the arrows
didn’t connect, the Rane forces charged, not bothering with a
second or third try. The Farlan forces were able to get off two
more full volleys before the Rane army was close enough for swords.
As Thad watched the battle unfold, he almost laughed. It was no
longer a simple fight but a rehearsed and planned event. Thad
released his magical orb of energy. The soldiers each attacked
their first opponent, then ran.

The Rane archers were ready for their
retreat, and as soon as they had distanced themselves from the
battle, another hail of arrows fell down upon them only to be
pushed aside by the shield that was now carried at the corners of
the formation by half a dozen soldiers.

As they pulled back, Thad once again
saw the large soldier in the full metal armor. He too was becoming
a fixture on the battlefield. He had killed more of Thad’s men than
any other, and Thad wished that he would fall soon. Thad had
described the man to Tuck and asked Reeve to see to him, but as of
yet, the elf had not located him within the massive enemy
camp.

After they had run for a little over
two miles, Thad called his men to a halt and looked back at the
estate. Unlike before, the Rane army had stopped their entire
force. Thad could see a contingent of horseback riders heading in
their direction. Cursing, Thad called his men to formation, knowing
that there was no chance of outrunning them on foot.

Thad started to build up his magic as
the horsemen rushed toward him, and he could feel his head becoming
light. He should have known that the Rane army would adapt to the
changes in his tactics, but after so many successes, he had gotten
lazy.

Thad let loose five fireballs about the
size of a man’s head. As they raced toward the riders, the horses
balked, sending a few riders to the ground, but the best continued
on. The archers fired arrows as fast as they could, but many of
them were too slow in pulling their swords and were quickly downed
by the horsemen.

Thad wished he had saved some of his
energy but knew that should he employ any more of his magic, it
would most likely leave him lying on the field
unconscious.

Sword in hand, Thad readied himself as
a rider rushed past him, its lance aimed for his chest. Thad’s
shield and armor worked better than anything of metal, and the
lance broke the force of the resistance, carrying the man from the
horse. Thad had hoped for such an outcome and quickly grabbed for
the reins of the horse as it passed, swinging easily up into the
saddle.

Thad had little time to celebrate as
two horsemen quickly picked him out for their target. Thad mentally
checked his shield and knew that it was weakening. At most, it
could only take one more strong blow. Looking at the two men, Thad
chose the soldier who still held a lance and kicked his horse into
a gallop. As they neared, Thad leaned to the side of the saddle,
sticking his sword out. The enemy’s lance came so close to Thad’s
head Thad he could feel the wind off of it and swore that he had
left a few hairs behind. As the horses passed each other, Thad
stabbed out, catching the opponent’s horse in the foreleg, causing
it to stumble, bearing its rider to the ground.

Thad felt bad about having to kill the
horse, but it was the easiest way to deal with a man in thick armor
under such circumstances. Forgetting about the downed rider, Thad
stood back up in the saddle and looked for the other soldier. He
found the rider being pulled from his horse by one of Thad’s
men.

Taking a quick look around, Thad
noticed that the fighting was over, and they had won, though they
had lost nearly a third of their number during the fight. His men
were now gathering the horses. When Thad noticed that one of the
men had taken a garish leg wound, he dismounted and ordered the
wounded on horseback and those able to walk to do so.

It was nearly nightfall before they met
up with the rest of the army. Parson, seeing that they had many
wounded, called for Mary and the other healers. Thad quickly made
his way to the command tent and explained to the general and
Killian what had transpired after the battle.

“I had hoped they would hold their
cavalry to the rear until they were forced to use them. Horsemen
are great against breaking ranks, but not so well in many other
situations. That being said, we will just have to adjust. The only
other option right now is to surrender, and I don’t think that will
end nicely for us.”

“How do we handle their cavalry? I lost
a lot of men today, and next time, they might decide to send more,”
Thad said, slamming his hand down on the table.

“We will have to hide a number of
archers on your escape route. You could also place some of your
magical traps and use them if the enemy gets too close behind you,”
Killian suggested.

“We don’t have any more supplies for
magical aid. Glass is easy enough to come by if we have the men to
send back to the capital, but we have run low on gems and metal. We
could melt down some of our extra swords, but that still does
nothing for our shortage of gems,” Thad replied,
frustrated.

“Then we will have to use archers,”
Killian replied empathetically.

As they were discussing the best place
to put the archers, an elfin scout rushed in. “Sir, we received
news a large army is marching in from the northwest.”

The command tent went deathly quiet as
everyone absorbed the new information. “Where did they come from?”
Bache asked, his voice carrying his concern clearly.

“I don’t know, sir,” the scout replied
quickly. “It’s as if they appeared out of thin air.”

“It could be reinforcements from the
Katanga, dwarves, or Vathari,” Thad said hopefully.

“We can only hope, but it would be best
if we planned as if they were enemies,” Killian interjected. “How
many troops are with the new army?”

“The reports have them at around four
thousand strong, sir.”

“Not enough to save our skins if they
are reinforcements, but more than enough to destroy us if they are
unfriendly,” Bache said, a hint of absurd laughter in his voice.
“Thad, I know you have just returned from a foray, but Parson is
still out preparing the next attack on the main force. Can you
gather some men and go out to meet the new force? We have to know
what we are dealing with.”

“It will take some time to gather
enough troops to march. Most of my men are either wounded or
exhausted,” Thad replied hesitantly.

“Take some of the elves with you. We
still have some held in reserve in case any hard fighting broke
out. Looks like this will be a good time to use them,” Reeve
suggested.