The Wizard's Coming (4 page)

Gefren was surprised into a bark of laughter. Narich groaned, raising a helpless hand. He had been watching Avayan. The burly man had tried to cut off an angle of the path by sliding down the steep turf. He'd lost his footing and was rolling, helpless to save himself from a bone-shattering fall onto the faceted rocks at the foot of the slope.

Minelas flung up a hand and a swirl of sapphire light halted Avayan's headlong tumble, righting him just before the final drop. The warrior clung to the steep slope, pressing his face into the grass, digging in his fingers and toes. Then he looked cautiously up, first towards the clifftop, then slowly around and down, to stare open-mouthed at the men down on the jetty. Above, the corsairs still trying to flog the black horse to its feet.

'If they can't get down, we still can't get up.' Gefren tried to keep reproach out of his voice.

Minelas didn't respond, the slightest smile tugging at one corner of his full mouth.

One of the other corsair horses whickered, disconcerted. The wind from the sea wound a skein of pale dust around the would-be attackers. Another horse neighed, panicked as the soil beneath its hooves blew away. Now all the animals were seized with the same fear, tossing their heads and scrabbling vainly for a firmer footing.

The rearmost riders tried to turn their horses around, to make for the top of the cliff. As they did so, one swung its muscular rump into another horse, sending it sliding down to fall against the first to stumble. Both riders fell from their saddles. As they tumbled down the slope, they grabbed at each other, at tufts of grass and knife-edged rocks. A slick of blue light appeared, not to save them but to stop them getting any handhold.

On hands and knees, Avayan had been cautiously picking his way across the slope to the comparatively safety of the path. He pressed himself to the grass shuddering as the corsairs slid past him to plummet, screaming, onto the murderous rocks below.

'Saedrin save us,' Narich breathed.

Now the topmost edge of the sandstone cliff was crumbling into razor-edged shards. Slings of sapphire magelight whirled around to hurl a lethal rain at the corsairs still struggling with their horses. A screaming man fell head over heels before his falling steed crushed him into bloody silence. Men and animals slipped, stumbled and fell with yells and uncomprehending shrieks of pain. A horse tumbled helplessly, its legs snapping audibly. They all landed hard on the broken rocks, agonized echoes of their final screams lingering for some moments after the last corsair had fallen to his death.

Gefren drew a shaking breath and bowed low to Minelas. 'Master mage--'

'Let's be on our way.' Entirely indifferent to what he had done, the wizard strode along the jetty towards Elkan and the boy with the horses. The warrior was looking as wide-eyed as the child at the mangled bodies at the foot of the slope.

'Trooper!' Gefren shouted harshly. 'Mount up.'

Elkan gathered his wits and proffered a set of reins with a shaking hand as Minelas reached him. The wizard sprang competently into the saddle while the fisher-lad fled, ashen-faced.

Narich's dour face cracked in a slow grin as he walked beside Gefren. 'Those bastard raiders aren't going to know what's hit them.'

* * *

'I have beacons manned all along the coast and fast horses ready to carry word inland.' Lord Halferan was pacing back and forth in front of his canopied chair. Below, the great hall was full of men quietly speculating with suppressed excitement. Halferan's brown eyes grew distant. 'As soon as we see the first ships--'

Minelas was seated at a trestle table set up on the dais. He leaned over a wide silver bowl of water tainted with ink. 'No.'

The mage's single soft word silenced the entire hall.

'What do you mean?' Halferan asked the question for everyone.

'See for yourself, my lord,' Minelas invited.

Halferan squared his shoulders and walked over to look into the scrying bowl.

'This spell--' He hesitated.

'Do you recognise this anchorage?' asked Minelas.

'I do.' Halferan frowned. He raised his head to look at his expectant warriors. 'It's the mouth of the Linney, in the middle of the salt-marshes.'

'What do you see?' the wizard prompted.

'Three corsair ships.' Halfern rested his hands on the table, peering into the bowl. Blue magelight from the ensorcelled water cast eerie reflections on his face. 'A substantial encampment. Timber buildings within a palisade. A sizeable midden and the fen despoiled.' He swallowed hard.

'I'd say they've over-wintered there,' observed Minelas. 'They've a foothold on your land, my lord.'

'This summer's raids will be ten times worse if they have a forward base.' Halfern slammed his fists on the table. Sapphire light slopped over the bowl's rim to sink into the wood. He snapped his head around to find Gefren waiting patiently at the side of the dais. 'Bring that weasel Scavarin up from the dungeon,' he snarled. 'We'll learn what he knows about this if we have to skin him alive to loosen his tongue.'

'No,' Minelas said forcefully. 'If he suspects you know they're there, he'll send a warning. You know there are traitors in your household.'

Bitterness twisted Halferan's wrathful expression. 'Can't magic unmask them?'

'No,' Minelas said evenly. 'But my magic and your men can destroy this nest of vermin. That'll send a message to the other corsairs.'

'Telling them to raid our neighbours instead.' Halferan said unwillingly.

'Your first duty is to your own,' Minelas reminded him. 'We can help your neighbours as and when raiding ships come.'

'Burning these scum might delay the first raids,' ventured Gefren.

'Leave them and they'll launch their own attacks any day,' Minelas pointed out. 'They needn't fear any late storms out on the open ocean.'

'Those salt-marshes run all the way to Lord Ermeth's borders,' Halferan said thoughtfully. 'We could ask him--'

'No.' The wizard was adamant. 'We must leave now, with just the men present in this hall. As long as you can swear they're all loyal.' He raised a hand and every door glowed with ominous blue light. 'Any man you doubt must be locked in a dungeon until we return.'

'Every man here is true as Gidestan steel.' Gefren was outraged.

Minelas ignored him, intent on Halferan. 'If these corsairs get a hint that they're threatened, they'll disappear into the mosses. We must leave at once, and you must hang this envoy you have chained below, and all his men too, so we can't be betrayed after we've left.'

'How are we to attack a camp in the middle of these marshes?' Gefren appealed to his lord. 'The corsairs will post sentries. They'll know we're coming before we're within three leagues.' He risked a fearful glance at the wizard.

Minelas vanished without so much as a hint of magelight. 'I can hide your men from corsair eyes.' His voice was calm in the empty air. 'As long as they haven't had word we're coming.' The wizard reappeared, that half-smile lifting the corner of his mouth.

Halferan stared down into the scrying bowl, gnawing at his lower lip. 'Very well,' he said with sudden decision. He surveyed the men waiting motionless in the hall. 'Get your gear and weapons from your barracks and muster in the outer ward. Go nowhere else. No farewells for wives or sweethearts or whores. Do I have your oath?' he demanded harshly.

'Aye, my lord!' The fervent shout shook dust from the high hammer beams.

Minelas nodded, satisfied. 'And order that corsair envoy and his men hanged before we leave. Just to be certain.'

'Their crimes doubtless deserve death.' Halferan waved a dismissive hand as he strode towards a door at the rear of the dais. 'See to it, Gefren.'

'My lord.' The captain bowed obediently.

'I shall want the bay stallion, captain, and a man to see to my needs.' Minelas passed a hand over the silver bowl, quenching the sapphire light before following Halferan.

'As you wish, master mage.' Gefren regarded the scrying bowl with misgiving before looking down the long hall.

Troopers were shoving at each other in their haste to reach the doors, eager to embark on this campaign against the hated foe. Only a few were hanging back, to let the crush lessen. One was Corrain. He met Gefren's gaze, a frown creasing his forehead. Stifling his own unease, the captain turned abruptly around and went after his lord.

* * *

'Do you think he has the stomach for this fight?' Corrain urged his horse to draw level with Gefren's stirrup. He leaned sideways to see past the riders ahead to the blue-cloaked figure riding beside Halferan. The track through the fens had been only just wide enough for two horses.

About half the force rode ahead of their lord and his knot of trusted troopers, the remainder following behind. Travel-stained, horses roughly groomed, every man rode straight-backed and alert, impatience for this battle on every face.

'Do you think this wizard can do all he claims?' Corrain persisted.

'He slaughtered those raiders at the harbour.' Gefren looked bleak.

'He saved my life,' Avayan said robustly, riding on Corrain's other flank.

Corrain shook his head dubiously. 'He wouldn't watch those corsairs hanged. He asked me if they were all dead before he'd join my lord in the outer ward.'

'He's no milksop.' Narich turned in his saddle to look back at them. 'He couldn't handle that stallion if he was.'

'True enough.' Doubt still shadowed Corrain's eyes.

'How can they not see us?' Hosh was riding behind with Elkan.

'Magic,' Elkan said repressively.

'Everyone's plain as day,' Hosh persisted. 'Where's that blue light he raises his visions with?'

Elkan glared at him. 'Shut up or they'll hear us coming regardless.'

'Or I'll leave you behind bound and gagged again.' Corrain looked back over his shoulder. 'I won't come back to get you a second time.'

Hosh opened his mouth to laugh until he saw Corrain's expression. He subsided into uncertain silence.

'How far to the corsair camp?' Avayan asked quietly.

'Not far.' Gefren looked up at the sun high in an untroubled sky. 'That rise where we last camped was the end of the solid ground.'

'This is salt marsh.' Narich pointed at a tangle of dirty red stems beside a cluster of tall dark green plants with sharp, toothed leaves. 'See, samphire and spearweed.'

The plants suddenly shimmered as if seen though a heat haze that this spring day couldn't hope for. Azure light flickered on the edge of sight.

'There's your magic,' Elkan grinned.

A flash, brighter than lightning, dazzled them, painful in its intensity. Another came, then another, blinding radiance exploding on all sides.

'What--?' Corrain groped for his sword hilt, struggling to force his eyes open.

Narich cried out in startled anguish as an arrow buried itself in his shoulder.

'Corsairs!' Gefren bellowed, standing in his stirrups and drawing his sword.

Corrain ripped his blade from its sheath and flailed wildly around, purple smears blurring his vision. More men yelled as raider arrows bit deep. Fearful horses whinnied and stamped. Corrain's mount tossed its head wildly, ears pressed back flat.

'Help me!' Hosh was unhorsed. He struggled to his knees, flailing wildly at shimmering lights whirling all around.

'Leave the horses!' Gefren dismounted as he shouted the order

'I can't!' Narich could only cling on with his unwounded hand as his horse reared, lashing out with its fore-feet.

Elkan was still mounted, slashing his sword at the lights circling Hosh. A glimmer dodged sideways before darting forward to run up his blade and sink into Elkan's hand. He yelled and dropped the weapon. The stink of burned flesh and charred leather floated over the salt scent of the churned mud. Elkan fell and screamed only once as his terrified horse trampled him.

Corrain dropped to the path and let his horse go. He scrubbed at tear-filled eyes with the back of one hand as he brandished his sword blindly.

'Stay at my back and I'll stay at yours.' Avayan slid from his saddle and pressed his shoulders to Corrain's. 'I can't see,' he raged.

With the purple stains in his vision fading to yellow, Corrain glimpsed a figure behind a thicket of stunted buckthorn. 'Corsairs!'

As he blinked, the man vanished. Then a different raider stepped out of nowhere to swing a brutal cudgel at his head. Corrain ducked, thrusting a furious, instinctive riposte that bit deep into the raider's forearm. His blade passed straight through the insubstantial wrist, leaving no wound. Corrain blinked again and the man was two paces to the right. His club was coming so fast there was nothing Corrain could do. As the blow landed he went sprawling in the mud.

Feeling emptiness at his back, Avayan whirled around, his sword ripping through the air. A blue spark leaped to the point of the blade. With an ear-splitting crack, the weapon twisted into useless scrap. Avayan dropped dead, his face a rictus of agony. A raw score seared his wrist, disappearing up his sleeve.

'I yield!' Corrain wrapped his arms round his head in abject surrender. 'Saedrin save me,' he wailed. 'I yield!'

All up and down the path Lord Halferan's warriors were being clubbed into submission and dragged away.

'You craven swine.' On hands and knees beside Corrain, Hosh was bleeding profusely from a broken nose. Drawing a ragged breath, he spat his contempt full in the older man's face along with a broken tooth.

Corrain rolled over into a low crouch, wiping the blood and spittle awkwardly onto one shoulder. 'Learn to roll before a punch lands, boy.' There was no panic in his whisper. The club had left the merest graze on his temple. 'We can't fight magic so save your strength. They're not out to kill us.'

'What do they want?' Hosh quavered.

A raider approached with a handful of jangling chains, grinning. 'We want slaves.'

'No!' Hosh reared up, bunching his fists.

Corrain deftly tripped him, glaring furiously at the boy. 'Don't be a fool!'

'Listen to him.' The corsair fastened manacles on Corrain's unresisting wrists before stripping the warrior of dagger and sword belt. 'You might live to see tomorrow.'