Esra (38 page)

       The crowd parted as Arland stalked up to their table and collapsed into an empty seat.  He stretched his neck from side to side before sighing deeply. “Fynn is taking care of all the archers and communicating with Meshok to track the Elites’ progress.  The Unni guards are training the townspeople fer battle and Baelin is furiously making as much of everything as he can.  How are the preparations fer the traps coming along?”

       “I have some Humans working on snares, pitfalls and barricades.  It will stop a few of the soldiers but not nearly enough.  I wish we had more time.  Arland, as Keeper of Charm ye are skilled in Influence Magick, correct?”

       “Aye,” he answered.  “I have the ability to influence objects and people, to a certain degree of course.  I would not be able to do anything substantial to a hundred of them at once, but I am fairly skilled when I focus on just a few people, even more so with one.”

       Zakai sat for a moment, dark brow furrowed in concentration.  “Alright, I need ye te pick three of the soldiers spaced at various locations in their formation.  Do ye think ye could get them te attack their own when they charge?”

       “Aye, I think I could,” Arland nodded enthusiastically. 

       “It will catch them off guard and each of them should be able te kill at least a couple other soldiers before they are taken out themselves.  That takes care of ten of them.  But first things first, of course.  I would assume that all of the soldiers will be protected by some kind of spell that will prevent us from casting anything upon them.  We will first need te have someone remove that before Arland can work his magick.”

       “Baelin,” Arland stated confidently.  “He is the best at removing spells.  He is the only one who will be able to expose all of them at once.  And he is resistant to influence magick because of his Amulet, his third Gift.”

       “Good.  Let him know our plan, then.  He should wait until the Elites get close te the town, just before they attack.  We can’t remove the protective spells too soon or the sorcerers will have an opportunity te counter and recast.”

       They all stared again at the drawing of Wilspry on the table, racking their brains for another way to defend against attack.  Nadia turned to the towering Unni-se, a small shadow against his looming frame.  “Is there anything I can help with?  I am the Keeper of Stealth, ye know.  If there are any traps that need to be set off in close proximity, I’m yer girl.  I’m also more than capable in resistance magick.”

       Zakai pondered this statement, absentmindedly stroking his chin.  “Yes, if ye are willing, that would be very helpful indeed.”

       He leaned over the map and narrowed his yellow eyes, his fingers tracing the table in an excited fashion.  “Yes, that will most certainly help.  Do ye think ye could use a spell that will prevent some of the sorcerer’s from using magick?”

       “Well,” she frowned, “I’ve done it before but only fer a few sorcerers at a time.  And I doubt I will be able to prevent an entire group of advanced sorcerers like this from casting spells, at least fer long.”

       “But the ones that captured me from Sorley, there were only two sorcerers in that group,” Esra interjected.  “And I didn’t know resistance magick could be used to prevent someone from casting spells.  I just thought it was defensive, preventing harm from spells once they were already cast.”

       The Unni-se turned to answer her.  “There will be many more sorcerers in this command, I assure ye.  If I had te venture a guess, I would say they’ll be a dozen.  Tallen will take care te send some of his best followers, especially since he misjudged ye the last time.  That mistake will not happen again.  And resistance magick has many different forms.”

       “Can’t we also cast a protective spell fer ourselves?”

       “We could, but protective spells have te be maintained, and we would need multiple people casting them te protect everyone.  Which would mean we’d lose some of our best warriors.  I think we’re better off having them fight.”

       “How do ye know so much about magick?  I thought there were no Unni sorcerers?”

       “There aren’t,” he made a deep raspy sound like a laugh.  “But in order te be a master strategist, one must know everything he can about his friends and foes.  I am more than familiar with magickal abilities, even though I possess none.  I would not be very good at defending my people otherwise.”

       Esra nodded in agreement as Zakai continued.  “Nadia, ye should choose the few sorcerers that ye feel are most powerful and jest focus on them.  I would assume that they will be located in the center group and that there will be a couple of the lower level sorcerers on the flanking sides.  It doesn’t seem like much, but trust me, keeping a few powerful sorcerers at bay will be much help indeed.  And as soon as ye feel ye cannot hold them anymore, come join the fight.  Yer Necklace of Stunning will be of good use there.”

He paused for a moment, pouring over the charcoal drawing on the rough wood.  Hope was growing in Esra’s chest as she watched the great Zakai weave a manageable defense of Wilspry.  They just might stand a chance. 

“What about Meshok?”  She offered.  Although she hadn’t consulted her friend on the issue, she was more than sure that the Great Wolf would want a chance to bite at some Elites.

“No, as much as I would love te have her fighting with us, that’s a secret that’s better kept.  At least fer now.  Something tells me that the surprise of her kind being alive will be much more useful at a later Moon.  Can ye show me that Tur map of the town again?”  Esra did as he asked, and the Unni-se scoured the dimensional form on her arm.  After a moment his eyes lit up and he poked the table in excitement.

 “Here’s what I’m thinking.  See these two large hills on either side of the northern field, here and here?  They provide good cover, as they stretch all the way te the edge of town.  The Elites will probably come right in between the two of ‘em and send two smaller groups around the hill te flank us.”

“How do ye know?”  Esra asked, studying the Tur map.  The hills seemed to be a couple of hundred feet across, narrowing as they neared the town. 

“They would hope that the shadow of the hills will keep them fairly cloaked and avoid detection for the flanking groups.  At least that’s what I’d do, and they are sure te come prepared with some strategists of their own.” 

 “We could set a trap at the top of one of the hills,” he continued.  “The left one would be the superior choice because of all the rocks scattered on the side and top.  We could cause a landslide without having te carry anything te the top.  Good fer our lack of time.  That would take care of one of the flanking groups, so we only have te worry about the center and the other side.  Arland, that means ye have te choose yer three soldiers from the center and right side, mind ye.  All we need is someone te spring the trap, start the slide.” 

“I’ll do it,” Nadia offered.  “I can work on the resistance spell fer the sorcerers right afterwards.”

“No, we will need them te be taken care of from the very beginning.  It’s too important te put off.  Especially if Baelin will be removing all of the protective spells right before.”

“I can do it,” Arland jumped in.  “I have to wait until Nadia and Baelin complete their spells anyway.”

“That could work,” the Unni-se leaned back in his chair, staring at the map.

“No, let me do it,” Esra interjected.  “I don’t have anything else to do, and it will require no magickal skill to push some rocks.” 

“That’s brave of ye, but I’d rather have ye safe in the town, Esra.”  Nadia said with a worried look.  “It’s not that I don’ think ye can do it, it’s jest that if something goes wrong, ye don’t know any spells to protect yerself.”

“But we need to have Arland in the town, not on the hill,” she argued.  “The townspeople are going to be very frightened and he will be the only one that will be able to give them comfort and the courage to fight.”

“Can Arland start the slide from the town with a spell?”

“Aye, but if he’s casting a spell fer that, he’s not using his magick to calm the townspeople.  And ye’d still have to post someone on the hill or use insight magick to see when they approach, which further distracts someone.  We need Fynn’s archery skills in the town as well.  Honestly, I can do it.”

Zakai pondered this, frowning slightly.  “She’s right.  Arland would be most useful here.  Esra, ye will be in charge of the trap on the left hill.  If everything goes well and the landslide takes care of the whole command, ye can come down the hill and get back te the town using this path.  They will know that yer there after the trap is sprung, so if there are still soldiers try te stay hidden until it’s safe.  We will send out a few of our soldiers te pick off the remaining few Elites and ye can return back te the town barricade with them as quickly as possible.  The worst thing that could happen would be that ye don’t hit anybody but at least we block off that route te avoid being flanked on both sides.  Bottleneck the center command and force them te have te come at us only a few at a time.  Go talk te Fynn, he’s the Keeper of Earth, correct?  He should know if we can cause a landslide and what’s the best way te do it.”

“Alright,” Nadia conceded as they all stood to leave.  Esra made her way out of the inn, knowing there was little more than two hours left before a hundred Elites were upon them.  She just hoped with all her might that their plan would be enough.

XXXII

       The chaos that the town experienced over the next couple of hours was like nothing Esra had ever seen.  There was a nervous fury to everyone’s movements, and she was glad they had convinced Arland to stay near the townspeople.  It seemed to be the only thing holding them together.  The barricade was set, the elderly and children safely hidden, and as many snares that could be set and holes that could be dug scattered the fields north of the small town.

       Meshok appeared in the distance, the final signal that the Elites were approaching, and everyone gathered behind the barricade.  Baelin came to Esra and gave her a worried nod of encouragement, gently touching her shoulder before she began the swift climb to her place on top of the hill, her white sword sheathed at her side.  She could hear nothing but the occasional shuffling from the town, silent in nervous anticipation.  Her friends and a few of the townspeople mounted their Steeds and stood behind the rows of Earth bound volunteers.  Esra had given Roja to one of the townspeople, hoping the Horse may help save the life of its brave rider. 

The Unni perched upon the Skycatchers were a sight to behold, towering twice as high as the others.  Shova had told Esra before she left for the hill that although they began each battle atop a Horse, most Unni preferred to fight on solid ground and dismounted before the first contact.  It was an intimidating show to the opposition, especially to see how massive they still were even without a Horse.

        Zakai stood atop the five foot tall barricade at the front of the town, one leg resting on a crate and the other on an overturned cart.  He wore an intricate helmet inlaid with sapphires that had razor sharp barbs about two inches long protruding from the thick metal surrounding his horns.  Esra shuddered to think what would happen to someone who met with a thrust of his barbed head.  His solid breastplate gleamed in the sunlight, a picture of a Yanquor Tree regally sprawled in its center.  The other Unni wore similar breastplates, although they all forewent the need for bracers, greaves, or other such armor, and none wore a helm like that of their chief.  Zakai towered over the town with his flail swinging in his right hand tauntingly.  His narrow yellow eyes looked with hatred upon the field in front of the town, and Esra thought that anyone with half a brain would never attack such a fierce and determined commander.  She hoped the Elites would be so stupid.

       The minutes ticked by slowly as Esra waited at the spot that Fynn had determined the best chance for a rockslide.  Earlier he had moved a few large rocks around with influence magick and sent her to find a strong stick that she could place under the biggest boulder to start the slide.  All she had to do was push down on this stick, and hopefully this one boulder would start the rest down the hillside.  She realized this was a crude method, and one that they could have easily used magick with, but at least this left her Assembly free to do more important things. 

       Nadia and Fynn had taken to organizing the archers and luckily there were quite a few hunters that were already more than skilled at hitting a moving target.  More than a dozen of them took their place on rooftops and in between makeshift battlements in the wall of carts and bags of grain.  Shova, Mox, and Hadvi had been vaguely successful in training some of the townspeople the basics of hand to hand combat, but that was a greater challenge.  Most of the people had still never swung a blade or weapon before in their life, so everyone hoped there wouldn’t be many Elites that made it far enough to test their new skill.  

       A dark line appeared in the distant horizon to the north of Wilspry.  Elites. They were approaching the two large hills, just as Zakai predicted. 
Orro Ken Baelin
.  Esra sent a message to her blacksmith friend, indicating that she had spotted the Elite soldiers.  She could hear Arland in the distance, speaking words of encouragement to the frightened villagers. The faint rumble of Horses grew slowly louder as she crouched down beside the boulder, keeping a steady eye on the approaching army.  She accepted a Tur message from Fynn. 
Try not te squash yerself.
  Esra laughed as she replied,
Glad to see yer confident in my ability to push a stick.