White Hall (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 10) (70 page)

Others began to follow suit in an attempt to prevent the wizard from controlling their minds, and it was a good plan if just her voice was at fault for the magic working. The yelling did help and prevented as many from giving in to her will, but even so there were those who suddenly began lashing out at their fellows. Those who forgot to continue screaming against her magic would falter in their defense. Some were cut down and others joined her magic creating chaos amongst the enemy.

When the man with the dark blue skin suddenly appeared before her, the girl was only slightly surprised. She had seen what looked like a blue version of the elves, who had been with Darius, standing on the hill. He was their leader, she thought, and apparently his mind was stronger than those who served him.

The girl felt his magic and noticed his mouth working a counter spell to her own. It was a battle between the two for who controlled the army. Some of those fighting because of her magic suddenly stopped as the spell was broken. Unfortunately their comrades couldn't see the change quick enough and simply cut them down as they tried to regain their minds and understand their surroundings.

Katya used her wings to leap up onto the ox bodyguard's shoulders. She stood using her wings to keep her balance and took command of the creature more directly. The ox's movements became more controlled, though it was Katya's use of a puppeteering spell which made him do her bidding now. She dropped her siren song and made the ox attack the dark elf directly, but two more oxen jumped to protect their leader.

A shield caught the club, while the second struck her guard's shield in turn.

Katya whistled sharply causing the attacking oxen to stall briefly as her magic tore at their minds for just a moment. It was a pause that let her guard strike over the shield killing one of the oxen. Her guard's shield thrust forward knocking the other attacker back into the enemies behind the defender who had been hoping to help stop the girl.

The dark elf had stepped to the side and his magic changed quickly to a new spell. Fire roared towards Katya and her guard. She released her puppet as she sprang into the air. Her wings thrust and used the 'Dragon Gale' as magic made the breeze into a massive gust threatening to topple the dark elf and those closest to him.

Frowning at the girl, the dark elf recovered to cast a new spell at her as she lifted higher into the air. Spears were thrown and Katya used more wind driven by her wings to cast them away with a defense of dragon air magic.

Before the dark elf could finish, however, Katya smiled and looked to the south. It was a change in the left flank of Southwall's line and it was also the direction of Cheleya's attack. Followed by the remainder of her team, the dragon mages sent more dragon breathed fire into the enemy. The elf stumbled as an ox ran into him raising its shield to protect the two of them in the nick of time.

From her vantage point in the air, Katya noted that most of the fighting seemed to be turning in Southwall's favor. Those fighting the battle mages were now losing ground. Her attack and those of the aerial fighters, the dragon mages, had sown chaos into their ranks. Only the power of the oxen and rams prevented a rout. They were still pressuring the battle mages who were fewer now. The fighting had thinned the ranks of both sides, but magic offset the physical size of the enemy they faced. With only the dark elf capable of using magic it seemed, even this army's strength and numbers weren't enough to break an army consisting of half veterans and half novices.

Katya watched as the leader looked around him and signaled a retreat. The sound of a high pitched whistle sent half of the remaining soldiers into a quick retreat the way they had come. With half their forces in retreat, the rest of the line began to give way.

A second whistle came in a quick pattern. The grayvens retreated but attacked the lines of wizards and mages trying to sow discord among their troops as well. Wizards' fire and other spells drove them away, but it was enough to distract Southwall's defenders enough for the remaining enemy to break and retreat after their fellows.

Niklaus raked the grayven along its side with his talons and banked away twisting his body before either his target or the one chasing him could catch the shape changer. This body moved quickly and in surprisingly agile ways despite its size. Luckily, the cadet had also been able to adapt to its abilities quickly as well.

When the monsters suddenly retreated, the boy in griffin form was left unsure of what to do. They struck at the novice line and he thought one of the beasts plucked a young wizard from the ground as well. Worried that the poor novice would be dropped from a great height, Niklaus thought to give chase.

It was a foolhardy endeavor as several of the grayven turned on him to intimidate the griffin. His instincts kicked in telling him to back off. There was no wisdom to dying for one person when there was little likelihood of his actually saving that person. Some might call his inaction cowardice, but Niklaus couldn't make his wings continue forward.

The flock of grayven disappeared with the army behind the tall hill to the west and the cadet thought to look at what the enemy had left behind.

His breath caught in his chest seeing bodies scattered along the ground. Many were those of the beast army, but Niklaus noticed many who were once human lying on the ground too. They had healers with them and he could only hope that they could save most of the lives of the wounded.

As his adrenaline began to drain, his body began to tell him of aches and pains. He had been fighting off the grayven over and over after trying to keep them from his friends. A couple had attempted to attack the group surrounding the healers, but magic from the ground had been enough to drive their unsupported assault away from the fragile wizards.

The group of novice wizards with the light support of battle mages had been the bigger target and the last victim had been pulled from that line. Niklaus hadn't caught who it had been. All he knew was that someone sporting white had been captured and drawn away in spite of his best efforts.

Landing proved a bit difficult as Niklaus tried to put weight on his two pair of legs only to have his right front give in pain as it sought to support his weight. A cry of pain came from the eagle's beak sounding part bird with the throatier growl of a lion blended into the complaint.

Niklaus let go of the griffin form and found himself on his knees. His right arm had a bloody gash even after changing back to his human body. It was a point of knowledge he hadn't been sure of before, after all the cadet had never willingly wished to hurt himself to find out such a thing.

"Are you all right?" Falcon Elijah asked hurrying over to his student. His hands grasped his shoulders trying to help the boy right himself.

His left shoulder told him it was injured as well, but the cadet had a feeling that it came from his poor landing more than the fight. Admitting that wound to the healers would come with a little bit of shame. Injuring himself wasn't the story of a hero after all.

Elijah heard the small hiss of pain as the cadet's shoulder popped, but after a moment Niklaus stood shakily. His legs felt like he had run ten miles or more. Whether his energy was used up because of magic or just the battle, he wasn't sure; but the young mage knew that finding some food before a second attack would be wise.

"I'm a little nicked up, but I'll be ok. I am hungry though. Maybe the griffin's metabolism eats up energy quicker than my own, or it's from using magic; but I'll need to resupply," he told his mentor even as the boy wondered if his legs would ever stabilize. They were like gelatin and felt ready to give without Elijah's support beside him.

"How bad did they hit us? Are the healers safe?"

The falcon nodded even as he led the boy up the hill, which made his legs even more exhausted; but that was where their packs were located. Each wizard and mage had been carrying their own supplies, so most of them had bags nearby. The cadet had simply landed too far downhill to retrieve his pack and the food inside easily.

"With your distraction and I think that of your brother, the creatures never went beyond the line of novices for long," the man's voice stopped and Niklaus glanced to his mentor. Elijah's bleak looking face told the story too well.

"Have you been down the hill yet?" the cadet asked looking over his shoulder and down the hill. He could make out men and women in yellow or white with yellow stripes moving through the novice wizards. There was also a lot of movement from other white clad individuals with different colored stripes on their sleeves or at their shoulders and neck among the fallen.

He breathed a little easier even though Elijah had looked ready to tell him that it was a massacre.

His trainer shook his head slowly.

"Then think positively until we know otherwise. We have healers here, and not just some novices guessing at the problem."

Elijah looked at the boy in surprise and retorted, "I thought that I was your mentor and I was supposed to make you feel better."

"Probably, but you're doing a lousy job of it so far," Niklaus managed a chuckle that sounded genuine. His mind was on his friends and brother down below. If he weren't on the verge of collapse, the cadet would have run down the hill as fast as he could to help. He worried over Piotr, but Elijah had said something about him as well.

"You said that Piotr was doing something to keep the grayvens off of us?"

"The what?" the elder mage asked in confusion.

"Sorry, I was thinking that they look like ravens or shrikes blended with some sort of black cat. They also resemble the griffin from the stories," the boy apologized and explained himself.

"So a griffin and raven combined, I follow now." He shook his head remembering Niklaus' question. "There was always at least one of those things biting or clawing at the others. One would rip the wings from another's back and then the next thing I would see, a different one would attack the same way; so I kind of assumed that it would take someone like your brother to cause that kind of havoc among the... grayvens," the falcon finished testing out the word.

A healer's apprentice approached after Elijah had raised his hand behind the cadet's back. Niklaus gave him a questioning look as the wizard who looked slightly older than him came up to them as he sat beside his pack. As the cadet moved to reach for the food in his bag, pain lanced up his arm. He barely had any strength in the arm at all and Niklaus was surprised as he noticed that he was still bleeding from the long gash on his forearm.

The male apprentice knelt beside him looking at Elijah with concern despite being on the level of the cadet.

"I'm sure that there are people hurt worse than me," Niklaus complained as the apprentice began mouthing his words of power. His hands touched his arm just below the shoulder. "Shouldn't you be helping the novices or the mages that were caught in the worst of it down there? I'll be fine if you want to put me last."

Taking a drink from his canteen, the boy discovered that he was very thirsty and drank quickly even as he expected the apprentice to back off and find somebody in true need.

"You're in worse shape than you say," the dark haired apprentice stated as his eyes glazed over with the use of his magic. "Your shoulder is out of its socket. There are two cracked ribs on the same side and you're bleeding from five different wounds.

"If I leave you alone for an hour, you'll probably be unconscious and in three hours or less you'll probably be dead. So why don't you leave healing to those who can do it and just eat something? You'll need the energy, because I can't share as much while I heal you, if I hope to take care of the rest of those you think are injured worse than you."

Niklaus frowned and retorted, "You aren't very good with patients. No wonder you're just an apprentice."

A quick yank from the apprentice made a loud pop in his shoulder that made Niklaus yelp. He would have screamed, but the pain cut his breath before more than the weak protest escaped his lips.

Giving the apprentice an angry look as the blood began to restore the color to his face, the cadet complained, "I thought you healers could use your magic to block pain!"

"I thought you said that you were fine," the apprentice quipped back, though his voice sounded a bit distant as his magic worked on his patient. "Blocking pain for major wounds might be necessary, but most people can handle a shoulder pop without crying too much."

Elijah had his hand over his mouth to cover a smile, though he still shook with amusement. Adding a frown for his mentor, Niklaus was glad when the healer was finished. He finished eating and drinking without further disruption as the wizard moved down the hill towards those with more need.

When the cadet stood minutes later, his legs still felt a little weak; but Niklaus could tell that the rest and food had already begun to restore him. He had a long way to go before he could say that he felt like himself again, but his legs held him without Elijah's support.

He looked around him seeing that the team he had originally been grouped with for the battle had already moved down the hill with the healers. Uliya and Xara had gone to find their mentors where the fighting had been the worst. The cadet could only assume that the two girls, along with the other two cadets stationed with them who were newer to White Hall, had felt helpless in their position with the healers as he had. No one wanted to be in the middle of such a battle, but a battle mage wanted to be able to stand next to their comrades to help protect them if they could.