Shadow Magic, page 10
“What power do you serve, Master?” Ulibo asked.
“I dare not name it before I am ready. To do so would invite questions I’m not yet ready to answer. Go now and fetch Bane. Perhaps the answers I seek await us in the lighthouse.”
Chapter 15
Prince Nord sat on the floor of his tent trying to decide if his luck was good or bad. When he closed his eyes, he could still feel the heat of the sorcerer’s flames. Heat’s Bane lay on the floor a few feet from him. The blade was so polished it looked more like crystal than metal. How Nord longed to cut Vilos’s heart out with it.
But that wouldn’t do. His new benefactor had made it clear that killing Vilos was off the table and Nord wasn’t fool enough to challenge the sorcerer. Not yet anyway. Should he get his hands on his niece, then maybe a new deal could be struck. For now, at least, he would toe the line.
Nord couldn’t imagine what Vilos had been thinking to make such a powerful enemy.
Finally, Nord decided his luck was good. Any enemy of Vilos’s was a friend of his. Best if he finished his business in the Broken Kingdom as fast as possible and turned south before the sorcerer lost patience.
Nord dressed and belted on his new sword. Outside, his guard stood scratching his backside. Clearly getting ambushed had done little to improve diligence. “Morning, sir.”
Nord grunted. “Rouse the camp. We march on Duke Aaron’s castle today.”
“Right away, sir.” The guard ran off to wake the camp. At least he obeyed with alacrity.
Nord went to find his worthless excuse for a magician. His tent sat only forty feet from Nord’s. When Nord pulled the flap open and stepped inside, he found his wizard face down in a groaning heap on the floor. Arkon wasn’t the most impressive sight at his best and he clearly wasn’t at his best.
Nord administered a none-too-gentle kick to his ribs. Arkon groaned and rolled over staring up at Nord. The sight of his glowering lord seemed to wake him.
“Get a good night’s sleep, Arkon?” Nord asked.
“A sorcerer in camp,” the wizard mumbled then shook his head. His eyes were black, bloodshot, and sunk deep in his skull. “I keep having the same nightmare.”
“Your sleep habits don’t interest me. I want to know how he waltzed through my camp like he owned the place. I thought you put protections in place. Why didn’t you stop him before he reached my tent? What the hell good are you? You didn’t even warn me.”
Nord’s voice grew louder with each sentence until he practically roared the last one.
Arkon struggled to his feet. He looked like a refugee from a famine. His ribs stuck out, his face had sunk in. The price of his magic, he claimed. The intruding sorcerer had looked considerably healthier.
“If you want me to battle that sorcerer, I’m no good at all. He overshadows my power like you overshadow an infant. I barely brushed his mind and he sensed it then dropped the psychic equivalent of a boulder on me. Yet I’m certain he could have turned my mind to pudding without batting an eyelash had he wished to.”
“I thought as much. He wants me to attack the High Kingdom and bring Vilos down.” Nord drew Heat’s Bane. “He gave me this to help. Check it for traps. You were in no fit state to do it before.”
Arkon took the sword and made several mystic passes over it. “Powerful, but I sense something hidden, buried in the enchantment. It doesn’t seem to be a trap.”
Nord nodded. “He told me the sword couldn’t be used against him.”
“That’s probably it. As far as I can tell, there’s nothing dangerous buried in the enchantment.”
“Can you remove it?”
Arkon rubbed the bridge of his nose. “No. If I try there’s no doubt in my mind the sorcerer will sense it. I expect he wouldn’t be thrilled about me fooling with his magic.”
“Probably not. He seemed a rather humorless fellow.” Nord took the sword back and sheathed it.
“What now?” Arkon asked.
“Until I think of something better we’ll do just what he wants.”
“Wise decision,” Arkon said.
Nord nodded. “Get ready. We march for Aaron’s castle in an hour.”
The men had gathered and stood ready to march in under an hour. Good, that was the sort of efficiency he liked to see. The ranks of the White Tigers had swelled to five thousand strong. Though only a core thousand had much battle experience, the rest seemed eager for a fight and managed to stand in straight lines. That was more than a lot of conscript armies could say.
The army had arranged itself into standard battle formation. The front thousand carried pikes and long spears. Behind them were two thousand heavy infantry armed with single-handed arming swords and protected by mail and shields. Fifteen hundred crossbowmen brought up the rear. Two hundred heavy cavalry covered each flank, and the final hundred light cavalry rode ahead of and behind the main force to watch for spies and traps.
Nord rode a gray stallion at the head of the army along with a standard bearer. At the top of a twelve-foot lance flapped a black flag with a white tiger rampant. How glorious it would be when he swapped that white tiger for the High Kingdom’s golden serpent.
Arkon rode with the scouts. His magic did a better job of spotting an ambush than a thousand men. Never one to take extra chances, the wizard dressed like an ordinary soldier and even carried the standard horseman’s mace. Most enemy commanders tried to eliminate any opposing wizards as soon as possible. Nord could see no reason to give them an obvious target.
His scouts had gotten well on their way and Nord figured it was safe for the main force to move out. He drew Heat’s Bane and called forth a cold aura. It glittered with a chill blue light. “White Tigers, forward.”
The White Tigers covered three-quarters of the distance to Aaron’s castle the first day. The cavalry reported one ambush which Arkon had sensed and eliminated without losses. If the rest of the campaign went as smoothly as this first day, Nord would consider himself fortunate.
They set up camp two miles from Aaron’s castle. After making sure a double guard had been posted, Nord went to talk to his wizard. He pushed into Arkon’s tent without announcing himself. The wizard had shed his cavalryman’s disguise in favor of a simple black robe. Arkon glanced up from behind his small folding travel desk when Nord entered.
“You did well with that ambush,” Nord said. “They seemed to get discouraged awfully easy.”
“Aaron’s wizard sensed my presence,” Arkon said. “Once they knew you had a wizard, there wasn’t much sense bothering with another ambush.”
“It figures he’d have a wizard.” Nord dropped into a chair beside Arkon’s desk. “How strong was he?”
“She,” Arkon said, “was competent, but I could take her one on one.”
“Good. Anything else I need to worry about?”
“Besides the ten-foot-thick, forty-foot-high walls surrounding Aaron’s castle, I can’t think of anything.”
“Don’t worry about the walls,” Nord said. “We’re going through the main gate.”
“You seem confident.”
Nord patted Heat’s Bane.
The men were allowed an extra hour’s rest before they broke camp. Nord planned to hit Aaron’s castle by noon. The army marched as soon as they formed up. No ambushes troubled them for the remainder of the trip.
A small village situated about a mile from Aaron’s castle had been evacuated. It seemed they’d had plenty of warning as Nord’s scouts reported nothing of value remained.
Their best find was an old wagon. For his plan to work Nord would need lumber, so he ordered two of the better-built houses demolished.
A hundred men with axes soon produced all the lumber he needed. Nord rode on toward the castle well pleased.
Duke Aaron’s castle appeared quite daunting. Nord had heard reports of its size, but seeing it looming before him really brought it home.
The main keep towered thirty feet above the forty-foot-high walls. Every fifteen feet along the wall was a tower, no doubt manned by skilled archers. The main gate was barred by a foot-thick, iron-banded oak door, on either side of which stood a guard house lined with murder holes. Any enemy foolish enough to try and fight his way through that wouldn’t last long.
Nord smiled. Heat’s Bane would show them what their defenses were worth.
Large oak trees lined the road leading to the castle. Nord put some of his men to work building a ram. He signaled Arkon and the two of them rode to just beyond bow range.
“Can you amplify my voice so they can hear me?” Nord asked.
Arkon made a couple of mystic passes through the air. “Go ahead.”
“Aaron.” Nord’s magically enhanced voice boomed like an earthquake. “Surrender now and swear allegiance to me and no one will be hurt.”
The duke must have been waiting nearby because only moments later he appeared on the wall. Polished plate mail gleamed in the noonday sun and his long blond hair rippled in the breeze. Nord couldn’t feel a breath of wind so he figured it must be a magic trick meant to inspire his men. Nord had to admit the effect looked good. Aaron reminded him of some legendary hero or maybe even Branik the Sword Lord.
Nord smiled a nasty smile. Too bad for Aaron he wasn’t an archangel, because nothing less would save him today.
“It will take more than your pathetic little army to breach these walls, Nord,” Aaron thundered down in an equally loud voice. “I’m feeling generous. Lead your men away and I may spare you.”
“I don’t think he’s going to surrender,” Arkon muttered.
“Remember I gave you this chance.” Nord wheeled his horse around and went to rejoin his men.
Aaron’s mocking laughter followed him.
The axemen had been busy in his absence. Four good-sized oaks had been felled, limbed, and bound together to make a ram. Two of his men had worked as carpenters before they joined up and they guided the others in mounting it to the wagon and building a mantle out of the old lumber. They did a passable job of cobbling it together.
It wouldn’t win any beauty contests. To be honest, it looked rather like a diseased turtle, but the men wouldn’t have to worry about arrows.
“I guess we’re ready,” Nord said.
His stomach churned and bile burned the back of his throat. It was finally starting to sink in just how much he was relying on the sorcerer’s magic. He chose twenty raw recruits at random to push the ram. If they didn’t survive, the loss would be minimal.
“Let’s go.”
Nord rode ahead of the ram and once more stopped just beyond bow range. He drew Heat’s Bane and blue light blazed forth. He pictured a thin blue beam coming from the tip of the sword.
When he had the image firmly in mind he pointed the tip of the sword at the gate. “Now!”
A blue ray shot out striking the gate. It persisted until the whole thing carried a layer of frost.
“Charge!”
The men pushed the ram as hard as they could.
Nord watched as they drew closer and closer to the gate.
Time seemed to slow.
Every move took forever.
The arrows even seemed to hang in the air.
The ram struck the frozen gate with an astounding crash. Frozen iron banding shattered like glass and the whole gate collapsed inward.
His men fled the wreckage as fast as they could, dodging left and right to avoid the arrows.
Half made it back.
The remainder of the army advanced to join him. Arkon rode at their head.
He urged his horse up beside Nord. “That worked at least.”
Nord grinned. He hadn’t felt certain until the ram crashed through. “They’ll send the heavy cavalry next.”
In the broad field surrounding the castle it wouldn’t do any good to advance the pike men. The cavalry would just ride around them to hit the flank. By deploying no defenses Nord hoped to draw them into a straight-on charge. If they took the bait, he had another surprise waiting.
It didn’t take long for the cavalry to appear. Men and horses covered in heavy plate armor filed through the ruined gate.
What an awesome sight those knights made. Rumors Nord had heard said Aaron had spent most of his wealth buying the steel to outfit them. It was an absolute shame they all had to die. But they’d chosen to join the wrong side, so die they would.
All five hundred knights had assembled in two rows three hundred yards from Nord’s army. Arrogant bastards meant to charge straight at them.
Perfect.
Aaron was a bigger fool than Nord had first thought. After the destruction of his precious gate, Nord thought he might show a little caution. It seemed he put great faith in the ability of his knights.
As the knights began their charge, it occurred to Nord that it was a good thing knights didn’t make a living with their brains. The idiots had to know a trap awaited them, yet they charged anyway.
Perhaps wearing all that steel did something to your mind. Made you think you were invincible. Some lessons could only be learned the hard way.
At two hundred yards Nord began the mental exercises needed to summon another of the sword’s powers.
As he felt the power build the sound of hoofbeats grew louder.
Too slow.
The power was growing too slow.
He’d underestimated the time he needed.
Thunderous noise.
They couldn’t be more than a hundred yards away.
He wasn’t going to make it.
They were going to reach him before the power was ready.
Seventy-five yards.
Almost there.
Fifty yards.
Now!
With a sweeping slash of the blade, Nord released Heat’s Bane’s magic.
A blue-white wave of force struck the knights.
Parts of men and horses went flying.
Metal shrieked and twisted.
In seconds, Aaron’s prize cavalry lay dead or dying. The few men that survived moaned in pain. Nord plumbed the depths of the sword’s power and found the well about dry.
He had enough power left for one last trick.
“Charge!” Nord cried.
His army surged forward with him in the lead. Mounted, he covered the distance much faster than his infantrymen. He had almost reached the wall before the archers recovered from the shock of seeing their champions fall.
Arkon rode stride for stride with him. If they could get in fast, the wizard could neutralize those archers in a hurry.
As they approached the shattered gate Nord saw a gleam of steel. The murder holes were manned.
Damn.
He called on the last of the sword’s power and iced over the holes.
That was it. Heat’s Bane had been reduced to a mundane, if fine, sword.
Inside a group of spearmen waited in the yard.
Nord leveled the sword at them.
They went diving for cover.
He grinned. Even without magic, the sword made a good bluff.
“The archers,” he said to Arkon.
The wizard gestured and a fire sprang up along the top of the wall.
The archers either jumped or got roasted.
Most jumped.
The forty-foot drop didn’t do them any good but a few survived. Arkon’s fire took the last of the fight out of the defenders. All of the surviving soldiers threw down their weapons.
Nord brought in two hundred heavy infantry and put them to work searching the prisoners for hidden weapons. They’d checked out about a dozen men when Aaron came out of the main keep.
He walked at the head of a small entourage of ten people. Four were dressed in the stiff, fancy garb favored by the nobility. The other six wore simple servant’s smocks. Aaron himself still had on the fine armor from earlier. He’d divested himself of all weapons. A wise move considering Nord’s crossbowmen now manned the walls.
As they approached Nord whispered to Arkon, “Which one is the wizard?”
“The blond, second from Aaron’s left.”
A score of infantry had taken it upon themselves to act as escort to the duke’s group. Good thinking that. Nice to see his men taking some initiative.
As the group approached Nord studied them, looking for potential trouble. The servants all walked while staring at their feet. Good, they looked whipped, no problems there.
Three of the nobles wore the bland, arrogant look most nobles preferred. Cowards one and all without an army to protect them.
That left Aaron and the wizard as potential problems.
The wizard looked this way and that, alert for trouble. The bitch looked like she had spirit.
Too bad. She was a looker.
Aaron wore the stunned, defeated expression of a man who didn’t think he could be beaten. Nord saw no treachery there. Of course, he’d heard that Aaron had strangled his father to gain his current status, so he planned to take nothing for granted.
Aaron and his group stopped about five feet from Nord.
The duke dropped to one knee. “I offer my complete surrender.”
“Generous of you considering I already control your castle.”
Aaron sputtered and the nobles murmured among themselves. It seemed they weren’t used to sarcasm. While they fluttered about Nord decided to give them something to think about.
He drew Heat’s Bane and drove it into the wizard’s chest. She collapsed, killed instantly.
A second swing took Aaron’s head.
“He should have surrendered when he had the chance.”
“What should we do with the rest?” Arkon asked.
“I’m certain they’ll swear allegiance to me. Right?”
“Do we have a choice?” one of the men asked.
“Yes, the same choice Aaron had.”
The nobles tried not to look at the headless corpse lying in the dirt beside them. Once they had sworn themselves to Nord he said, “I trust you will honor your word. I won’t be as easy on a traitor as I was on Aaron.”
With that admonition he sent the nobles on their way.
