The Sorcerer's Destiny (The Sorcerer's Path) (48 page)

“Malek, Brother Thomas would be grateful for all the help he can get at the hospital tents,” Azerick told the cleric.

Malek watched his friends headed toward the battlefield and was torn with indecision. He made his choice and nodded at Azerick. “You’re right. The wounded need me most right now.”

The battle continued to rage, and the combined forces of the races managed to regain much of the ground they had lost by nightfall. Come morning, the Scion army had resurged, halted their advance, and began turning the tide yet again. The ravager numbers seemed endless, and the light of a new day revealed a field still choked with their enemy’s inexhaustible numbers. Ravagers threw themselves at the races’ forward lines, ignoring the iron constructs even as the animated machines hued at their backs. Wizards and pikemen were able to eventually stop the feverous drive, but not before they cut a deep swath in their defenses.

Jarvin and his key leaders had been in conference most of the morning desperately trying to devise a strategy to counter the newest setback. Twice now they had been rescued from defeat by the arrival of allies, but now there was no one left to come to their aid.

“There appears to be no end to these creatures,” Jarvin said. “If there is, I see us reaching ours far before we find theirs.”

“Where are they coming from?” King Yusuf asked. “Surely they did not all travel across the land from Brightridge and Brelland? I read your accounts of those battles, and there did not seem to be nearly so many.”

“There was not,” Raijaun confirmed. “Father and I think they managed to erect gates near the valley to allow a resupply of forces from their prison world, but the Scions are actively blocking any attempt at scrying them out.”

“If we do not cut off their resupply, we will never defeat them here. Is there any way we can get some of our people to these gates and destroy them?” Jarvin asked.

Duharhuln answered, “My riders have been trying to get a look at the far end of the valley, but the dragons rally and force us away before we can get near. This indicates they are indeed hiding something from us.”

“We must ascertain the existence of those gates and destroy them if that is indeed how they are bringing in reinforcements.”

“If we could locate them, it is possible for Raijaun and me to get near enough to open a portal to them,” Azerick said. “If we could do that, destroying them should pose little problem. The problem is going to be getting away afterward. The Scions have already shown a keen interest in protecting their existence, and they are sure to be heavily guarded. Undertaking this sort of action could leave me and Raijaun too fatigued to battle the Scions when they arrive. It is the very reason we have not expended ourselves thus far.”

“Well, while you are conserving your power, our people are dying by the thousands! If we do not find these gates and destroy them soon, there won’t be anyone left for you to save when these fallen gods do deign to show themselves.”

Azerick sighed and nodded. Jarvin was right. He and Raijaun could not continue to let the soldiers and wizards bear the brunt of the fighting. They were dying too fast. What good would it do to fight the Scions if there was no one left to fight for?

A soldier burst into the hall. “Sire, something new occurs on the battlefield!”

“Gods, bad news is like mold. Once it sets into your cheese it just spreads,” Jarvin complained bitterly as he stormed out of the door followed by his officers and leaders.

A low, thick fog was rolling over the northern range and blanketed the valley floor in a blindingly-thick miasma. Were it not for the continued sounds of fighting and the aerial battles being waged overhead, the region would appear clean and serene like a waste dump hidden beneath a fresh layer of snow.

“This cannot be natural,” Jarvin said.

Azerick replied, “It is not.”

“This is disastrous! Our wizards are almost useless if they cannot see. Is this more work of the Scions?”

Azerick extended a hand as he sent out his consciousness and felt for the magic involved in the fog’s creation. “There is a heavy necromantic aspect to it. It feels almost identical to the fog we encountered at End’s Run and covered much of Valeria.”

“Are you saying we are going to have to fight the dead as well? There must be twenty thousand or more of our own dead on that battlefield and at least twenty times as many enemy. If they rise to fight us…”

“Then this battle has likely met its conclusion,” Azerick finished.

The fog slowly drifted from east to west, clearing away to reveal the mostly human army as it rolled over the enemy ranks. As it passed, the fallen, both ally and foe, stumbled to their feet, shambled toward the frontlines, and began hacking and clawing at the enemy.

“They’re fighting for us!” Jarvin shouted and motioned to his fellow Kings to peer through his powerful, tripod-mounted spyglass.

“This is truly a miracle of our gods,” Yusuf said with a relieved sigh.

“I do not sense the power of the gods in its creation,” Azerick said. “Not directly anyway. Only Sharrellan would deign to use such detestable magic, and I have felt firsthand the signature of her power. Someone else has been tasked by the gods to play a part, and their piece has just been put into play.”

“As awful a move as it is, I’ll take it,” Jarvin replied. “Perhaps now we can locate those gates and destroy them.”

“Raijaun and I will search for a way, but it may take time.”

“Do everything you can, but do it quickly. This black magic has bought us some time, but it does not appear as though it will last.”

Already the fog had rolled deep into the ravager lines and left a clear view of the battlefield behind. Although similar to the spell enacted during the night of terror, it quickly became apparent that it was far shorter-lived. For the first time in the war, the ravagers faced a foe as fearless and relentless as themselves, and it was taking its toll.

Like any rare good news, it did not last long. A battered and bleeding scout galloped his mount to the very top of the hill and nearly fell out of his saddle at the King’s feet. Jarvin reached down and helped the man stand.

“Your Majesty, a massive force has attacked the southern pass! We have them bottlenecked in the pass, but our numbers are too few to hold for long.”

“How many?”

The scout shook his head. “I don’t know, Sire. It was thousands and more seemed to be coming.”

“If they opened a gate to our southeast, we could be facing a battle on two fronts,” Yusuf stated fearfully. “We do not have the reserves to split our forces if they break through with substantial numbers.”

“Yusuf, it is time we led our people into battle. We must gather everyone we have available, plug the gap, and find out if there is another gate. Duharhuln, can you spare us a few of your blood hawk riders? I think the Scions were relying on this to be a surprise attack. If there is a gate, we need their eyes to find it.”

“Of course. I can pull a company of my archers from the battle to go with you.”

“There is no time. Yusuf and I must take everyone who is ready to ride right now.” Jarvin turned to his son and laid a hand on his shoulder. “Miles, you will lead in my stead. Begin pulling as many of our troops from the rear ranks as we can afford and get them ready to ride south if we fail to stop them.”

“Father, I should go, not you!”

“No, you are a brilliant soldier, but a mission like this must be led by the King. If I fall, I know you are ready to wear the crown. You are the future of Valeria, and the kingdom could ask for no one better to lead them.”

“Allister and I will go with you,” Aggie said.

“What are you doing volunteering me for a suicide mission, woman?”

“Are you going to let me go by myself, you old goat?”

Allister chewed on his bushy, white mustache. “No, but I’ll darn well make you feel guilty about it.”

The two human kings quickly gathered all their available cavalry and rode swiftly for the southeastern pass. Five thousand horses thundered across rough terrain and along animal paths for over an hour before reaching the new battlefield. The regiment guarding their southern flank was down to a few hundred men desperately fighting to keep the horde of ravagers bottled up within a narrow pass. Only the handful of wizards sent to augment the contingent had kept them from already being overrun, but they were near to collapse from exhaustion.

The air was thick with the smoke of burning sagebrush and manzanita piled together in a desperate attempt to prevent the ravagers from simply climbing over the pass and going around them. The sight of several secondary skirmishes showed it was only moderately successful. 

Their reinforcements arrived just in time as the defense was near to shattering as more men were forced to abandon the pass to defend their rapidly failing flanks. Jarvin looked to his fellow king, nodded, and drew his sword. Signalmen blew their horns to order a charge. The cavalry split into three groups with the largest one thundering into the mouth of the gorge. The exhausted footmen cheered and gladly made way for the mounted soldiers to take control of the battle. With the two archmages’ and five wizards’ arcane help, the humans managed to quickly take back the pass, but their advance was stopped cold upon reaching the enemy’s main body. At least ten thousand ravagers surged toward the pass or climbed over the steep butte to brave the fires set all across its height and face.

The elven hawk riders landed near the humans’ rear, firing their arrows over an impossible distance yet making incredible shots from atop their winged mounts as they waited for a runner to relay their scouting report to those in charge. Jarvin, Allister, and Aggie broke away from the battle and approached the elves.

“You’ve found a gate?” Jarvin asked.

“Yes, Your Majesty, perhaps five or six miles farther up the gorge. Hundreds of these fell creatures are pouring through every minute.”

“How well is it defended?” Aggie asked.

“Other than the hordes streaming through, they have three dragons circling overhead. They drove us away before we got within a mile of it. Thank the gods they stayed there and did not come to the pass, or it would likely have fallen before we arrived. It is strange. There are several avenues that would allow these creatures to go around this pass and avoid your fighters, but they continue to stream through the gorge like ants.”

“Hm, likely a more adept analogy than you think,” Allister answered. “We know they do not operate at a human level of intelligence and use very little in the way of tactics. Yet they are able to respond very quickly to changes in the battlefield. I suspect they are of a hive mentality and communicate with some sort of telepathy. It would explain how the rearmost elements are able to respond so quickly to changes on the frontlines.”

“We must close that gate quickly before we lose control of the pass. My son is gathering our reserves as we speak, but it will take at least half a day for most of them to get here.”

“Is there any way you can get us near that gate,” Aggie asked.

“Our hawks cannot support two riders, but I can teach you some basic commands. The dragons are going to be a problem, but three of us may be able to draw them away to allow you to get close enough to destroy the gate.”

Allister looked at the enormous predators doubtfully. “You want us to ride those things by ourselves?”

“It is not so much different than controlling a horse except for a few additional commands to urge them to ascend and descend. They will mostly follow the leads of the others and their own instincts. You will need only to hold on until you reach the gates.”

“Magus, we must destroy that gate at any cost,” Jarvin said.

Allister agreed but not after a bit more grumbling. Two elves surrendered their mounts, helped strap the two wizards in place, and gave them brief instructions on controlling the stubborn but highly-intelligent birds. Securely mounted, the flyers took to the sky and raced south in a desperate attempt to avert disaster—if it was not already too late.

The hawk rider leader pointed at the river of ravagers flooding the long, twisting gorge. “There is already a significant increase in their numbers, and it is still growing,” he shouted over the wind buffeting their ears.

The wizards simply nodded, their eyes fixed near the horizon where they could see the dragons circling lazily above two large obelisks planted in the ground from which it continuously spewed more of ravenous creatures.

The dragons ceased circling and made straight for the intruders. The three elves surged ahead and dived at the dragons to gain their attention and keep them away from the gate long enough for the wizards to complete their mission. Arrows streaked from their powerful bows and bit into the dragons’ hard scales, but only two of them chased the bait. The third one banked and dodged the stinging shafts but kept heading for the two mages. Their hawks parted in opposing directions as the dragon blew a long column of fire that passed harmlessly between them.

The dragon immediately took up the chase after Allister as he dived toward the gate. Fire and magic streaked past as the blood hawk twisted and dodged the lethal attacks. Aggie tried to strike at the dragon with her magic, but trying to weave a spell from the back of a bird was a challenge at best. Her flight was too unsteady to create her more powerful and complex magic, and even the simpler ones were erratic and rarely found their target.

Allister was forced to break off his attempt to reach the gate as he needed to regain more altitude. Aggie guided her hawk beside his when the dragon chose not to pursue and resumed its vigilance over the gate.

“This isn’t working,” Allister shouted. “I can’t weave a strong enough spell to destroy that thing even if I could get close enough.”

Aggie nodded her understanding. “Let me see if I can draw the dragon away. He can’t chase us both.”

Allister gave her a thumbs up sign, and they both wheeled their flying mounts back around for another attempt. Far in the distance, they could see the elves locked in combat with the other two dragons. Whenever the wyrms tried to break away from the fight, one of the riders would swoop in and launch harassing attacks with claw and arrow until it resumed the chase. The elves had their hands full and could not provide any more help. If they were going to destroy the gate, they would have to devise a way to do it themselves.