Conflict (44 page)

They’ll pay for what they’ve done. They’ll pay with their lives
!

Mirkos gestured to Drocus to wait a moment. He took two steps forward, concentrated and focused. He pronounced words of power, summoning an Air Enchantment within himself, then uttered a powerful spell over the group of Noceans who were blocking the stairs on the parapet. Suddenly thunder echoed and lightning from an invisible storm tore the sky above their heads. With a loud crash the lightning struck and killed the first Noceans. Immediately an electric arch of death leapt onto the Nocean soldiers beside them, killing them instantly. The deadly chain continued on its way, striking all the enemies in the area. In the blink of an eye the electric storm had eliminated more than thirty men.

That’s better, let’s make some room so we can take the battlements back
. He looked at Komir, at the enormous Norriel beside him and the redheaded girl in white armor, who were looking at him, not missing a detail.
I still have to clear a little more terrain so they can get to the top without being crushed by the enemy numbers. Which of my spells could I use for this task? Ah, I think I have it… yes, a little wind will help me clean the battlements
.

With a mischievous gleam in his eye Mirkos cast a new spell of Air Magic, and a violent tornado took shape over the remaining enemies, who were trying to regroup. The vortex began to envelop and swallow up the enemy by the dozen in its violent spiral, throwing them into the infinite sky with unbelievable force. The enemy soldiers flew off amid screams, reaching amazing heights inside the whirlwind, then fell to the void. In a few moments the top of the stairs was left completely clear.

“Well done!” said Drocus. He turned to his men and ordered in his masterful voice:

“Take your positions and open up a wedge!”

The defenders took the battlements and began to force their way toward both south and north, trying to regain terrain. The fight on the other stairs was brutal, with the Noceans pressing from the top and the defenders advancing with determination.

In the center General Drocus led a charge, surrounded by his brave soldiers, and managed to open up a wedge in the enemy lines to the south, where Dolbar too was fighting to advance. If they could manage to join forces they would control half the western wall. Duke Galen was pressing from the north, but was not making any progress in the face of the superior number of enemies pouring in from outside.

A Nocean arrow grazed by Mirkos’ head as he reached the battlements.

“Look out!” Komir cried.

Hartz and Kayti went to stand on either side of the Mage to protect him.

Without missing a beat, Mirkos uttered words of power invoking an Earth Enchantment, then cast a spell on his own body. A spherical protective shield formed around him, enveloping him completely, as if an enormous brown bubble had trapped the Mage inside. It was a covering of hard earth, but appearing translucent.

Looking at Komir, he said:

“Can you make one of these to protect yourself from physical attacks, from swords and arrows?”

“No, sir, I have no idea how to do it. I know nothing about magic.”

“I see. Don’t call me
Sir
,” Mirkos said with a grin. “It makes me feel old. Mirkos will do.”

“As you wish, Mirkos. I tried to tell you, it’s the medallion which conjures, not me.”

Hearing this, Kayti looked at Komir suspiciously, and Hartz became aware of it.

“What is this medallion you’re talking about?” Mirkos asked.

Komir put his hand inside his shirt and took it out to show the Mage.

At that moment two Noceans appeared over the battlements, and Kayti and Hartz ran to intercept them.

Komir looked at the great Mage. Mirkos’ jaw dropped in amazement. He examined the medallion carefully, using his own magic, completely absorbed, as if time had stood still and only he and the medallion existed in that reality. Komir began to feel restless. The Noceans were everywhere.

Mirkos came back to reality at last. “Do you have any idea of what’s hanging around your neck, young Norriel?” he said.

“I know it’s very valuable. An arcane object of strong power, a weapon that casts spells.”

“Yes, that and far more. You’re in possession of an Ilenian artifact. Something unique, of unfathomable value and power. What are you doing with an Ilenian medallion? How did it come to you?”

At that moment Hartz and Kayti came back, their swords bloodied.

“It’s a long story…” Komir said, looking round him.

“A story I haven’t been told,” Kayti said accusingly.

“A story which doesn’t concern you or your Brotherhood one little bit,” Komir said angrily.

Kayti glanced at Hartz, who simply shrugged.

“It’s his medallion, he asked me not to say anything about it,” protested Hartz.

“I don’t think any of you have the least idea of this object’s importance,” Mirkos said without taking his eyes off the medallion, “or of the power it accumulates. The repercussions of this discovery might be enormous. We have before us one of the greatest Ilenian enigmas, one the Mages have spent centuries trying to solve.”

“That may be true, but this medallion is mine and it’s staying with me,” Komir assured him.

“It’s not the moment for arguments,” Mirkos said. “We’re in a mess, and we have to get out of it. The enemy is advancing. We’ll talk about this Ilenian medallion later.” He turned towards the north, where the men of Rogdon were unable to advance.

I must help them; they have to manage to move north and clear that section of the wall. I’m in harmony with Earth Magic, so what spell would be best for this situation? Those Noceans are treading heavily on our walls and refusing to budge before our brave soldiers. Ah, I have it…
!

He concentrated, then raised his staff and cast a new spell over the group of Noceans who were holding fast. Part of the stone floor of the battlements began to shake violently in the midst of the enemy avalanche. The surprised Noceans losing their balance, began to fall off both sides of the wall. The paving stones of the parapet began to crack amid violent tremors, then finally flew off into the sky in massive fragments, taking with them all the enemy soldiers on them. It was as if the earth under the Noceans’ feet were being propelled toward the sun. The enemy soldiers were either killed in their fall or crushed by the huge pieces of rock rising violently toward the clouds.

The Rogdonian soldiers fell back into their positions and waited, knowing that their Battle Mage was clearing the way for them. Once the spell ended, they went forward and mercilessly attacked the surviving Noceans, who were retreating in confusion, surprised and terrified by the magic. The battle on the western side of the wall was beginning to swing towards the defenders.

Satisfied, Mirkos reached the top of the wall. Komir and his two comrades walked at his side, protecting him. Mirkos turned his attention to the cloak of darkness which covered the outside of the wall. Keeping that spell going on for so long had to be consuming the magic of the enemy Sorcerers at a great rate; they would not be able to keep it up much longer. A new brown flash caught his attention.

Danger!

But this time he saw it in time. Immediately he invoked a quick protective spell, and the sphere of earth which surrounded him was strengthened with a new anti-magic layer.
Let’s hope the enemy’s magic doesn’t penetrate my protective shield. It should be powerful enough to protect me from any type of magic, as long as it isn’t unusually powerful. Let’s hope it holds; that Sorcerer out there is really strong.
He looked to his side and saw a white flash from Komir’s medallion which immediately raised a protective shield around him too. Komir stared at his protective barrier with eyes like saucers. Looking at Hartz he cried:

“Get out of here! They’ve cast a spell!”

Hartz did not even think. In a trice he grabbed Kayti’s hand and pulled her towards the stairs.

A fetid, greenish cloud began to cover much of the wall where the Rogdonian soldiers were beginning to gain the upper hand.

“Hurry up! Run!” Hartz urged Kayti as they ran

“We won’t make it!” she shouted, seeing the putrid cloud almost upon them.

Hartz ran on to the very edge of the parapet. He looked down, toward the inner courtyard.

“Just a little more!” he cried.

“It’s coming!” Kayti cried back.

Hartz looked into her eyes, then down, squeezed her hand and said:

“Jump!”

Komir watched what was happening in horror. He ran to the edge and looked down to where they had disappeared. He was expecting to see them lying broken on the cobblestones, but to his immense surprise he saw the caved-in roof of the stable. They had jumped on to the roof and it had caved in. He saw Hartz coming out from under a pile of hay and broken boards. He disappeared again into the half-collapsed structure and came out with Kayti in his arms. She stroked the giant’s hair and murmured something in his ear, then kissed him passionately. Anger forced Komir to look elsewhere. That damned woman! She had him more and more ensnared. That was surely going to cause trouble. They seemed to be all right, safe from the stinking cloud which was engulfing everything on the wall. Fortunately the sphere protected Komir from the noxious effect of the spell. He went back into the fray.

The fetid, greenish cloud became a putrid green miasma which wrapped around the few soldiers still standing and hid them from view.

Drocus launched a tremendous stroke at a Nocean soldier, then skewered another with a thrust. He suddenly became aware of the stench and burning which by now completely surrounded him. He felt his skin burning with a brutal intensity, which in a single heartbeat became unbearable, as if someone had poured boiling oil over him. He writhed in pain. He saw that the man in front of him too was suffering a terrible torture. A rash appeared on the tanned face of his enemy. It spread horribly while the soldier, unable to bear it, dropped his weapons and put his hands to his face. He fell to his knees amid screams of pain, and the violent spots turned pestilent.

Drocus felt such pain in his entire body that he wanted to jump off the battlements to end his suffering. He leaned against a stone support and on his knees, tried to bear the torture.
Aargh! By the Light! What’s this infernal stinging on my skin? It’s as if they’d poisoned our very blood. I have to bear it, I can’t lose my head because of the pain.
Around the General the men in their horrible suffering started jumping off the wall to escape the pain, finding death in the process. Chaos took over the whole central section of the western wall, with Rogdonians and Noceans alike falling poisoned.

The protection Mirkos had raised around him held, preventing the spell from penetrating the defensive sphere. Komir reached the great Mage and stood beside him. Mirkos focused on the brown flash he had just witnessed. He invoked a Fire Enchantment with a long utterance of power, pointing with his staff at the point where he had seen the flash a few moments before. He could see nothing under the cloak of darkness called up by the Nocean Sorcerers, but he knew that one of them was there, the one who was causing this disaster.

“Burn, damn you, burn!” he cried in fury.

A great ball of fire shot out of his staff, tearing the darkness in its path. An instant before the impact Mirkos was able to identify a Nocean Sorcerer, surrounded by half a dozen acolytes. The flaming ball was heading directly towards him, towards the origin of the malevolent spell.

And the ball of fire struck the enemy Sorcerer.

It burst into great flames which overwhelmed everything and everyone for ten paces around. The screams of the Sorcerer and his acolytes as the flames devoured their bodies reached Komir’s ears. Fascinated, he witnessed the enormous destructive power of the King’s Mage.

The cloak of darkness vanished at once. The evil poisoning of the blood also disappeared a moment later. The deadly cloud faded away, clearing the battlements. The enemy Sorcerers had been consumed by the flames amid agonized screams, and their evil spells with them.

Mirkos turned back to the battlements and walked through the fallen defenders. Komir followed him in silence, overwhelmed by the scene. Almost all were dead, except for a few who were still breathing. They reached Drocus. The General’s face was unrecognizable beneath the rash and greenish bloating, but he was still breathing. His back was resting against a stone support and he was still holding his sword.

“Hold on, Drocus, I’ll get you out of this,” Mirkos said.

“Mirkos, my friend… there’s nothing that can be done… now…”

“Don’t say that. I’m going to get help. I’ll be back.”

Drocus clutched his arm.

“It’s too late for me.”

“Drocus, no!”

“I die… fighting for my country… with honor… as I always wanted.”

“Drocus, we need you!”

“You’ll have to go on… without me… I know you will…”

“Drocus, my friend…”

But the Great General of the Army of Rogdon had taken his final leave.

Mirkos was unable to hold back tears of rage and sorrow.

A Nocean soldier came up behind him and struck the spherical shield of earth which surrounded the Mage with his scimitar. The shield repelled the thrust but weakened somewhat from the impact. A crack appeared in it.