Shadow Magic, page 16
“Very well, but I don’t want to have this conversation again. Any more suicidal orders and I’m gone.”
“Deal.”
Nord whistled and the horses came trotting over to them. How they’d managed to remain hidden in the empty courtyard Nord didn’t even want to know.
They mounted up and went to rejoin the army. Tomorrow Nord planned to head south toward Sand City, the largest city on the southern border. From there they would march on the High Kingdom and Nord would reclaim his birthright.
Chapter 24
Vilos left his army in town to resupply. He had three days to reach the meeting with Rao and the other elders, but he saw no reason to make them wait. At first he had planned to go alone but upon hearing his intentions his loyal advisors refused to let him. As a nod to safety, Abin rode at his side. The wizard was worth ten soldiers if they ran into trouble.
As they rode through the desert toward the oasis Abin scanned the horizon looking for potential threats. “I wish you’d brought along a few men. If we run into a force of any size…”
“A calculated risk,” Vilos said. “I don’t want to take a chance on scaring the elders. If we can prevent an all-out war with this meeting it will be worth it.”
“Will it be worth it if both of us get killed?” Abin asked.
Vilos grinned. “If we both get killed we’ll move beyond caring. How much further?”
“Another hour at least.” Abin pointed to some dark shapes circling in the sky. “What do you make of that?”
Vilos shaded his eyes and squinted. “Looks like vultures. Heaven’s mercy! They’re circling the oasis.”
He kicked his camel into a fast trot.
The stench of rotting flesh struck them as soon as they got within sight of the oasis palms. Vilos dismounted and drew his sword. Abin joined him, a slim ash wand at the ready. They tied their camels to the first bush they came to.
The smell of death almost overwhelmed Vilos as he walked closer. They entered the small clearing beside the pool of water. It seemed like a hundred vultures took flight, shrieking at having their meal interrupted. Bits of flesh and bone lay everywhere. The scavengers had cleaned up some, but Vilos could still tell a large group of people and animals had been killed.
“How long ago do you suppose this happened?” Vilos asked.
“A few days,” Abin said. “What could have done this?”
What indeed?
This wasn’t the work of men, Vilos felt sure. “I don’t know. Let’s take a look around and see if we can figure it out.”
Abin walked along the left side of the pool and Vilos took the right. They’d gone about halfway when Abin shouted, “Majesty, I found something.”
“What is it?” Vilos asked.
“A body.”
Vilos rolled his eyes. “There are lots of bodies around here.”
“A whole body, not torn up like the others.”
“I’ll be right there.” Vilos circled around the pool and joined the wizard.
“See?” Abin pointed to a withered body.
When Vilos stepped closer to look the body started to glow an ugly purple. Vilos recognized the color. The body rose up from the ground like a puppet.
“Hello, Vilos,” the corpse said.
Vilos recognized the voice. It was the sorcerer.
“I fear I had to cancel your meeting. My shadow demon didn’t get along with your friends. It played a little too rough for them. It’s your fault, you know. By now I have spoken to the surviving clan leaders in the form of your erstwhile ally Rao. They all believe you ambushed and killed the clan leaders. In a sense you did kill them. All I ever wanted was the girl. It didn’t have to be this way. Didn’t have to be this way. Didn’t have to be this way.”
The corpse continued repeating the final mocking line until Vilos hacked it to pieces.
“Son of a bitch,” Vilos muttered. “Let’s get out of here. We found what we were meant to find.”
“Wise decision,” Abin said.
The two men remounted and turned their camels south. They hadn’t gone far when Vilos noticed a cloud of dust rising in the distance.
He stopped.
“What is it?” Abin asked.
Vilos pointed at the cloud of dust. It appeared to be getting closer. “Sand storm you think?”
“No, the shape looks wrong for a sandstorm. Look at the sky, not a cloud in sight.”
“Well then, what is it?” Vilos asked.
“I haven’t the least idea.”
Vilos glared at the wizard. “Why don’t you find out?”
“Find out this, find out that, what would you do without me?”
“You don’t make with the magic, I might just be tempted to find out,” Vilos said.
He didn’t mean it of course. He and Abin had this discussion once a month. Vilos wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that the first man to employ a wizard had had a similar argument.
Abin muttered a word of power and a small green eye appeared in the air beside him. The wizard closed his eyes and the eye streaked off toward the dust cloud.
Seconds later Abin opened his eyes and said, “We’d better hurry.”
“What is it?”
“Nomads. Looks like they’re coming to find their friends and they don’t look happy.”
“How many?” Vilos kicked his camel into motion.
“A thousand, at least.”
“All right, things could be worse. We outnumber them ten to one. Is there some way you can keep an eye on them?”
“Not out here,” Abin said. “When we get back to town I could whip something up.”
“Good. It seems peace is now beyond my reach. So be it. Now we go on the offensive.”
Vilos and Abin arrived in town just after nightfall. A sliver of moon was visible in the clear sky. Yosef paced outside a small, unoccupied building they’d adopted as headquarters.
Vilos spotted him at once and shouted, “Assemble the division commanders. We’ve got trouble coming.”
Yosef took off. It wouldn’t take long for the commanders to gather. They all bunked near headquarters for just such an emergency.
“Abin, do what you must to keep an eye on the nomads, and then contact your apprentice for updates from the other towns.”
The wizard nodded and took off toward his temporary lab. Vilos smiled at his back. That’s what he loved about Abin. He knew when to bitch and when to do the job. Some never learned that.
Standing alone in the dark Vilos realized he finally had a free moment. He ducked inside headquarters and looked for some food. Sure enough he found half a loaf of bread and some wine. Not the finest repast, but he hadn’t eaten since morning and anything would taste good.
He finished the last bite of bread just as Yosef and the division commanders arrived. Several of them carried lanterns which they hung up to light the room. Each took a seat around the round table in the center of the room.
Vilos briefly explained what had happened at the oasis. Yosef slammed his fist on the table. “I’ll see that sorcerer burn for this.”
Vilos nodded. Yosef and Rao had been friends. “I know how you feel, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Right now we have an army of nomads headed our way. Since peace now seems impossible, I hope to crush the nomads as completely as possible.”
Abin slipped inside. “The nomads have started a pyre for the dead. I’d guess there are now between fifteen hundred and two thousand at the oasis. No change at the besieged villages.”
“It’s too soon for the forces to the north to have heard about the slaughter,” Vilos said. “When a message reaches them the attacks will intensify. We have to take care of this force as fast as possible and head north. Gentlemen, any thoughts on strategy?”
One commander, Vilos couldn’t remember his name, said, “We have a huge advantage in numbers, a straight-forward attack might be our best bet.”
“In an equal battle I’d agree,” Vilos said. “The nomads, however, have the advantage in that they are all mounted. They could just ride away from a charge and stretch out our line leaving the flanks vulnerable to a counterattack. Yosef, you fought the nomads with my father, any suggestions?”
The debate went on until near midnight when Vilos finally called a halt. Everyone had spoken and he’d made up his mind. They all left to get some sleep before the battle.
Dawn came too soon for Vilos. He ate, dressed, and went to the mustering area near the gate. His officers had the men assembled and ready when he arrived. Vilos noted with pleasure that they already stood in the modified turtle formation they’d discussed the night before. He spotted Abin and Yosef standing together out of the way.
Waiting for him no doubt.
Vilos walked over to join the conference. He smiled and nodded to the troops as he went. He knew he made an inspiring sight with his polished leather armor and gold circlet.
The armor was entirely for show of course. Anything that penetrated the circlet’s magic wouldn’t be stopped by simple leather armor.
“Gentlemen, what news?” Vilos asked when he reached the others.
“I received a message from the palace,” Abin said. “You were right, the attacks have picked up in the north and a third town is besieged.”
“Which one?” Vilos asked.
“Rand’s Oasis, the next town north of us.”
“How bad is it?”
“They were on full alert,” Abin said. “The gates were sealed and no one was hurt.”
“Ha, how often did they complain about the costs when my grandfather ordered those walls built? He said one day they’d be glad to have them. What about our friends from the oasis?”
“A third of them are besieging Rand’s Oasis. The rest have gathered two miles north to fight us.”
“They split their forces? That’s crazy; we already outnumber them badly.” Vilos was confused. The nomads’ actions made no sense.
“The men nearby are planning a fighting retreat toward their companions at Rand’s Oasis. They hope to tire our infantry then hit us hard when they join up with their comrades,” Abin said.
“How do you know?” Vilos asked.
“Magic,” Abin said, trying to sound mysterious. When Vilos only stared he continued, “I used an invisible eye to spy on a meeting of the war chiefs.”
“Hardly seems fair,” Yosef muttered.
“What?” Vilos asked.
“I said it hardly seems fair. We know what they’re going to do before they do it. We can adjust our tactics and destroy them. It just doesn’t seem fair to me.”
“Fair or not is irrelevant. Our goal is to win the war with as few of our men hurt as possible. If the best way to accomplish that is to use magic to spy on them, so be it.”
“As you say, Majesty.”
The army marched forth, Vilos riding at its head. The turtle formation should protect the men from the worst of the nomads’ archery fire. Each squad leader had his orders. No one was to pursue the enemy. Slow advance only to Rand’s Oasis.
If Vilos’s plan worked they should crush the nomads against the walls of the town.
Vilos drew his sword, an exquisite if mundane shamshir, identical in appearance and weight to Heat’s Bane. “Forward.”
The army started forward at a slow march. They should cover two miles an hour at that pace. The cavalry rode on either side of the infantry. Their job was to prevent the nomads from getting around the main force and attacking the rear.
They spotted the nomads milling around right where Abin said they’d be. That did wonders for Vilos’s confidence. If Abin got the location right, hopefully the rest of his information would be correct as well.
The nomads spotted them a moment after they came in sight.
They raced forward in a ragged line.
The nomads pulled up a hundred yards short of Vilos’s lines and fired their small bows into the mass of soldiers.
The men raised their shields and created a shell of wood and leather.
Arrows either bounced off or imbedded themselves in the wood.
Vilos heard a few screams as some found gaps in the protection.
Just as Abin had said, the nomads turned and rode away toward Rand’s Oasis.
Vilos smiled as his men continued their slow, steady advance. Most of them could maintain that pace all day without getting tired. The nomads didn’t go very far before they realized their tactic hadn’t worked.
They wheeled around to make another run.
This time when they stopped they fired their arrows at Vilos.
He sighed as the arrows deflected off the magic shield that surrounded him. Fortunately no nomad would target a camel on purpose.
A few cavalrymen started to counterattack, but Yosef got them under control. Vilos shook his head. If the nomads had planned to goad them by attacking him all they accomplished was to waste their arrows.
So it went all morning. The nomads would lob arrows and run while Vilos’s army continued its steady advance. The only change in formation was the creation of a small detachment to ferry the wounded safely to town.
It took the better part of the day but the walls of Rand’s Oasis finally appeared on the horizon. Vilos figured he was down about three hundred men from the nomads’ constant harassment. In the distance he could just make out the force surrounding the town.
The men could see the walls as well and Vilos could hear them growling. They were ready for some payback.
The nomads had just turned and were heading back for another attack. That should provide the opportunity Vilos wanted. They had ignored so many attacks they’d never expect a counterattack this time. When they reached three hundred yards out Vilos figured they were close enough.
“Charge!”
The cavalry surged forward behind him.
Taken by complete surprise some of the nomads tried to turn and run while others tried to get their bows up to shoot.
All they accomplished was to get in each other’s way.
Vilos cut the first man he reached from his saddle with a single blow.
His new sword might not have Heat’s Bane’s magic, but the fine steel cut through the nomad’s thin robes with ease.
The nomads were some of the finest riders in the world. It didn’t take them long to get turned around and race away from the deadly soldiers.
“Do not pursue,” Vilos shouted.
The few men that had raced off pulled up short and whipped around to join the main group. Vilos looked around and figured they got about even with the nomads. He estimated at least a few hundred dead lay scattered around the battlefield.
The infantry caught up and they marched toward the town. The nomads rejoined their brethren and seemed to be preparing for another attack.
Vilos shook his head. They had no chance against his army.
What a waste.
The nomads formed themselves into more orderly lines and began to advance toward Vilos. They all had their backs to the town.
“Now, Abin!”
The wizard spoke a word of magic and pointed to the sky.
A golden light shot from his finger.
Right on cue the hundred and fifty archers lining the town wall began raking the nomads with arrows.
The first three volleys put down almost a quarter of the nomad warriors.
When they wheeled around to counterattack Vilos shouted, “Charge!”
The army raced forward at full sprint.
The cavalry soon far outdistanced the infantry.
They struck the nomads as they were half turned to attack the town. Vilos swung his blade for all he was worth.
A dozen enemy blades bounced harmlessly off his magic shield.
Like a juggernaut Vilos slaughtered the nomads around him.
All around him his men were pounding the nomads.
Their formation was starting to fall apart and he knew it wouldn’t be long before they broke.
It was time to give the order. “No quarter!”
He hated himself for saying it but knew he’d never get a better chance to crush the nomads and eliminate the threat. If he played it right he might end the war in the first battle.
The fringes of the nomad formation began to turn tail and run. A quick glance showed that the infantry had managed to get in place. They had the battlefield surrounded on three sides with the town closing the fourth.
Spearmen bristled along the formation, stabbing at anything they could reach. Once a group of twenty tried to break through but the archers cut them down before they could reach the line.
The battle soon became a slaughter as the outnumbered nomads sought a way to escape the killing box.
The soldiers followed their orders and when it finally ended two thousand nomads lay dead in the sand.
Yosef rode up beside Vilos. “Was it necessary to kill them all? I fear we made no friends today.”
“I tried making friends and a bunch of innocent people got killed. The sorcerer has made it quite clear that this is a war I must fight. The nomads already think I’m a monster. I plan to do nothing to dissuade them. I will fight this war in as cold and brutal a manner as I can stomach. My duty now is to my people. I must end this war as soon as possible with as few casualties as I can. The best way I can think of is to break the nomads’ will to fight. If you have a better suggestion I’m willing to listen.”
“I don’t, Majesty. It just seems a shame. No one wanted this war.”
“One person did and he’s got it. I had my fill in the Crown War. Do you know what I wanted people to remember about my reign, Yosef?”
“No, Majesty.”
“I wanted them to remember a time of great peace and prosperity. Now, because of me, we’re at war. My people are dying and all I can do about it is to kill even more people.” Vilos felt himself close to tears but he forced them away.
He could show no weakness now.
“It’s not your fault, Vilos.”
The sultan smiled at his friend’s attempt to make him feel better. “No, my friend. The blame lies on my shoulders. Long ago I made a bargain with the sorcerer. I sold my unborn daughter’s soul for the power to end the Crown War. When the darkness came to collect I sent her away. Now my people are paying the price. Whatever becomes of the High Kingdom, for good or ill, the responsibility is mine.”
