Master Mage (28 page)

“Does the queen know?”

“No, and I honestly don’t think you
should tell her,” Killian replied, giving Thad a knowing look.
“From my experience, kings and queens would rather pull back and
lose the city than continue to fight. If we do that, we will live,
but only for a time. If we lose the capital, the war is over no
matter how long or hard you continue to fight. Our only hope, and
even though it’s as small as a grain of sand, is in holding the
city.”

“Understood,” Thad said weakly. He
wanted to argue that Maria would stand firm and defend the capital
to her last breath, but in his heart, he knew what she would do.
She would march them out and away from the city just as Killian had
said.

As he made his way through the palace
corridors, Thad knew that the queen was expecting him. She had made
it clear that she wanted him to see her at the end of each day,
battle or not. It was usually a pleasant task and one that he had
grown fond of, but tonight, he couldn’t stand to see her. He knew
that his resolve would weaken and feared that she might see the
fear that lurked behind his eyes. He wished he could evade Maria,
at least for a single night, but he knew it was pointless. If he
escaped in his waking hours, she would seek him out during his
sleep.

“Maria,” Thad called as he rapped on
the door to her study.

As the door swung open, Thad’s breath
was taken away from him as Maria stood wearing naught but a thin
lace nightgown. “My queen,” Thad said, turning around, his face as
red as a poker pulled straight from the fire.

“I am not the queen tonight,” Maria
said in a stern voice. “I have only a short time left between us,
and I wish to spend it as just Maria while I can,” she continued,
her voice softening as she wrapped her arms around him.

“We could still win,” Thad
stuttered.

“Do not play me for a fool, Thaddeus
Torin,” Maria said, forcing him to turn around. “Did you not think
I would learn when a messenger enters my own halls? I know of the
large army coming to strengthen our enemy’s forces, and I am no
silly child to think that we will win with what forces are left to
us. I have seen the men who protect the walls, and I know full well
that as beaten and fatigued as they are, an army of children could
topple them.”

“Killian had thought to keep it from
you. I think we both expected you to want to abandon the
capital.”

“I thought about it. For a brief
moment, I thought about asking you to run off with me to some small
remote portion of the world,” Maria said, putting her arms around
his neck and pulling in him for a soft kiss. I even started to
think of what kind of cottage we might live in, but I knew that, in
the end, you would not leave. I also knew that no matter how far we
ran, I could never abandon Farlan.”

“I am glad,” Thad said, forcing a
smile.

“But the worry of war is for later,”
Maria said, jumping back and twirling around in a circle. “Tonight
is just for you and me. Not slave and master nor queen and council.
Tonight, we are simply Thaddeus and Maria, just for tonight,” Maria
whispered, her voice sounding almost pleading.

CHAPTER XXII

Thad sat on top of the thin wall alone
as the sun broke over the horizon. Through his magical sight, he
could see the forces amassing just over the rise of a small hill.
They would march soon, and Thad doubted they would even hold out
until midday.

A warm wind blew in from the south,
bringing the scents of summer with it. Leaning his head back and
watching the clouds pass through the clouds, Thad gave an odd
chuckle. Time was such a weird creature. Each day, it seemed to
drag on as if it was never-ending, but as he looked back, it seemed
as if it was only yesterday that he was awaiting the snow to melt.
“Slow to come and quick to pass,” Thad said out loud as he tried to
remember where he had heard the saying before.

“Shouldn’t ya be with yer queen in the
castle?” Thad heard Crusher’s voice ask from below.

“I don’t know. Shouldn’t you be in one
of the medical tents, drinking a tonic?” Thad retorted, trying to
hold back the smile that teased at his lips.

“I’d rather drink horse piss,” Crusher
said, making a gagging motion. “I think their foul concoctions are
worse than the ailment they’re supposed to cure.”

Jumping from the wall and landing
lightly beside his friend, Thad gave a low laugh. “I believe I said
the same thing before when the queen had them pouring those
foul-tasting things down my own throat.”

Thad couldn’t help but for his eyes to
wander toward his friend as they made their way back toward the
palace and where the other few generals left awaited them for the
war council. The dwarf had always seemed stout and as hard as the
stone he had been born from, but now he seemed less so. His leg had
been badly mangled, and now Crusher walked with a slight limp.
“Does it still hurt?” Thad asked, worry hanging thick in his
voice.

“About as much as that thick head of
yers does when ya try to speak,” Crusher said, giving his friend a
wry glare. “Does it hurt? Fool should have his leg hit with an axe
bigger than he is and see if it hurts,” the dwarf mumbled to
himself as they made their way down the empty streets.

As soon as they entered the war room,
Thad looked around and found it much quieter than it had been in
the past. So many had died, and now only Reeve, Thad, Crusher, and
Killian remained. Thad had watched as the generals of the other
army held back, watching the bloodshed from a distance, but Farlan
didn’t have that luxury. There were too few soldiers to take even
one from the field.

Thad nearly balked when he noticed the
queen within the chambers, dressed for war. He had seen her wearing
the armor before, but the look of determination on her face showed
that she wasn’t going to let her palace fall without her own blood
being spilled upon the ground first. The thought of the petite
woman he had known since his first days in the capital lying dead
upon the field of battle bothered him far more than any other death
he had seen come to pass. He thought just for a moment to talk her
out of taking up arms in the fight, but from the look in her eyes,
he knew it was pointless. In the back of his mind, he hoped that,
by some good fortune, she would somehow survive the turmoil that
would soon be upon them.

“What is the plan?” Maria asked once
everyone was gathered.

“There is not much need of a plan,”
Killian answered back, frowning. “What men we have left will guard
the city walls to the last man. There is scarce else we can do at
this point. That is, unless Your Majesty wishes to offer terms of
surrender to the advancing army?”

“I would rather slit my own throat,”
Maria replied vehemently.

“That might be one of the terms they
request,” Killian replied back, giving the small queen a slight
smile.

“If there is nothing to plan for, then
why did we gather here in the first place? Shouldn’t we be out on
the wall, preparing?” the queen asked, her face twisted in
confusion.

“For this,” Killian replied as he set a
dark bottle on the table. “My people have often fought in losing
battles, and though we are rumored to win, we have often known we
would soon meet our end. In those times, we drink what we call our
sacrificial wine or Dalamean wine, as we call it.”

“Dalamean wine. I think I have drunk
everything that been named a spirit that’s ever been brewed under
the sun or below the ground, and I ain’t never heard of this
stuff,” Crusher said doubtfully.

“I would have been surprised if you
did,” Killian replied, giving the dwarf a warm smile. “Long ago,
before we were landless mercenaries, my people once worked the land
as farmers and winemakers. To help us remember that part of our
life, we are given three things when we come of age. The first is a
sword so that we may defend our lives, the second is an empty book
so that we may record our lives, and the last is a bottle of
Dalamean wine so that we can enjoy our lives. Every Katanga soldier
carries this bottle of wine with him and drinks it only when they
believe their life is soon to come to an end.”

“Then what are we waiting fer?” Crusher
said, grabbing a nearby mug and banging it on the table. “Let’s get
ta drinking before tha blasted soldiers get here to ruin our little
fun.”

Without laughing or so much as cracking
a smile, Killian poured the wine into the cups arranged on the
table and handed one to each of the people gathered around. Thad
took the offered cup and took a small sip. Before the wine ever
touched his lips, a thick fragrance hit and tingled his
nose.

The wine itself went down smoothly with
a bittersweet taste that lingered on Thad’s tongue. Only a few
moments after the first drink had settled in his stomach, his head
grew light.

“Goes down like water but kicks ya in
the head like a horse once it hits tha gullet,” Crusher said,
banging his mug on the table.

“That it does,” Maria said, slumping
down in her seat, her hand going to her head. “It has an exquisite
taste and fragrance.”

“It is made from small berries that
only grow in the winter. With each passing year, the wine gets a
bit stronger and sweeter than the last. It is said that should a
soldier carry this bottle until he is old and infirm in bed, it
will be so sweet that it will carry him to his rest. It is the goal
of all Katanga to one day taste such a drink.”

“I would have thought you would wish to
die in battle, not of old age,” Thad said, shaking his head
slightly in an effort to clear his thoughts.

“Most people think that of us,” Killian
said, cracking a slight smile. “That is not the case for most of
us, though. We fight as our way of life, but those of us who have
grown old are the ones who pass the knowledge along to the younger
of us. It is an honored and well-sought-after place among our
people.”

“Rane is on the march.” Thad heard the
echoes of the soldier long before the man ever entered the war
room. It was a sobering message, one that seemed to rob what little
place of peace they had found in their last few moments gathered
together. Without a word, the generals split, each headed to their
own place along the wall. As he watched Maria leave with Killian,
he hoped that the experienced warmaster would keep her safe, though
he knew that once the fighting started in full, there would be
little he could do.

Each general had just over three
hundred men with them to guard their section of the wall. Thad had
been given the southeastern section that, while not expected to
receive the brunt of the attack, was also a key area as it was the
nearest to the royal school and palace.

Thad found his hands shaking as he
watched the massive army march across the open land. He had
expected more fire from the ballista, but it seemed that Rane had
given up on that effort. He wasn’t sure it they didn’t want to
damage the walls further or if they doubted they would make much of
a difference in the coming battle. In the end, it mattered little
other than Thad no longer had to fear getting knocked off the wall
by a flying rock that missed his attention.

When the Rane army was halfway to the
city walls, a loud roar that seemed to shake the very earth pierced
the silence of the city. Thad’s head jerked to the sky, and what he
saw left him in utter awe.

A long writhing flame traced through
the sky from the southwest. Thad quickly used his magic to get a
closer look and nearly fell to his knees when he caught the first
glimpse of the dragon. He had always heard they were massive beasts
with wings so large that they could block out the sun, but that was
not what he found. The dragon looked like a massive snake with four
short legs, each baring massive claws, but with no wings that Thad
could see. Instead, it seemed to move through the sky by riding on
a cloud of fire with great flames leaping around it. The beast’s
head was abnormally large with several rows of teeth that looked as
if it could tear an ox in half with little effort.

The dragon flew only a few yards above
the city, giving everyone within a good view of the massive beast.
As it passed over them and headed for the Rane army marching ahead,
Thad let out a heavy breath that he hadn’t even realized he had
been holding.

Even from over a mile away, Thad could
hear the collective screams of the Rane solders as the dragon
swooped out of the sky, spraying them with a thick line of fire.
Thad didn’t know what to think as the dragon rose back to the sky,
leaving a large number of the soldiers dead of writhing in fire
upon the ground. He was glad to see the Rane army being accosted
before they reached their gates, but he feared that the beast might
turn its attention toward them.

Unable to turn away, Thad watched the
dragon make its second pass. This time, as it rose into the sky, a
lone man stood among the flames unharmed. The giant flames rose
from the ground, licking at the man’s armor. Thad had seen the man
many times, and none of them had been pleasant.

The dragon also seemed to notice the
man untouched by his flames and let out a roar of protest as it
soared higher into the sky before diving at the soldier
below.