Elves: Rise of the TaiGethen (46 page)

When the hand-to-hand battle began, it had to be inside the walls, where the streets were tight and the enemy formations would be broken. It was a paradox he was struggling with. He was desperate to keep them out of the city but was unable to cut down their numbers sufficiently on the field. To beat them, they had to face them on the very streets they were trying so hard to defend.

‘What are they planning, I wonder?’ asked Ephram.

‘They need to get in,’ said Auum. ‘They probably feel they’ve softened us up enough inside, now they’ll try to break the gates. Tulan, clear the ramparts around the gate. Keep the archers hidden in case they do breach the gates and attack. Ephram, I want more weight behind the gates; there are tonnes of timber in the streets. Let’s get it stacked there with bracing poles and strong elves to hold them. Go.’

Auum jumped back down to the waiting TaiGethen. ‘Help get the timber and rubble to the gates. And somebody find Pelyn.’

Elves dropped from the ramparts to gather whatever they could to further strengthen the gates. Outside, Auum heard their attackers draw up. He and Ulysan carried a heavy timber and placed it on the top of the quickly growing pile.

‘We need bracing timbers placed higher up,’ he said. ‘Any spell we make them use to take the gates down is a spell they can’t use on our people.’

‘I’ll find something,’ said Ulysan.’

‘Casting!’

Word was passed along the rampart and back into the city. Every elf repeated the call. Fire orbs began to thud against the gates. Auum stood twenty yards behind them, watching the steel-clad wood rattle and shake. Around him, elves carried more and more timber to the base, shoring it up as best they could.

There were multiple impacts, landing one after another. Auum could see new fire spreading across the ruined gatehouse. There was a moment’s pause followed by a terrified cry from the lookout.

‘Ward!’

A massive detonation sounded and the top of the gates splintered. Glowing metal shards fizzed through the air. Right in front of Auum, one of the disguised Katurans was struck in the chest. The metal went straight through him, leaving an exit hole the size of his fist. The victim was flung backwards, slithering to a stop, dead, at Auum’s feet.

‘Clear the road!’ shouted Auum. ‘Bring the braces and shore up the top of those gates. Move!’

The top three feet of the gate had been bent inwards. Auum raced forward, seeing Ulysan and three others carrying the flagpole. He joined them and they planted the wide base in the mud where the cobbles had been dug out, and positioned the top against the seam about halfway up.

‘It had been blown down,’ said Ulysan. ‘The top ten feet are missing.’

‘Casting!’ came the cry. ‘Brace, brace!’

Ice boulders smashed against the breach in the gates. Orbs beat into the middle. Auum leaned hard against the pole along with seven others, his arms vibrating with every strike. Metal groaned, joints weakened and timbers split behind the armour. More of the gate failed, the top right-hand hinge was springing open, opening up a hole the size of an elf.

It was as relentless as it was inevitable. Another massive impact and the gates bowed inwards with the sound of screaming metal and the collapse of the shoring timbers, which slid lazily back. Auum saw the seam of the gates break. The heavy slide latches bent, ready to give. Wood was beginning to smoulder.

‘Casting. Clear, clear, clear!’

Auum heard the note of panic and knew it was over. ‘Run!’

He ran two paces and dived full length into the lee of the walls. He rolled onto his back and saw the third thundering impact rip a hole through the middle of the gates. The flagpole was shattered, pieces cartwheeling away. The gates rocked open, sweeping away the shoring timbers and slamming against their stays. Metal plates clattered to the ground. The tattered right-hand gate leaned out, hanging in space for a moment before falling.

More spells flew through the gap, doing little but knocking down already ruined buildings behind the gates. The smells of hot metal and burning wood mixed with smoke in the air. Katura was breached, and the ease with which it had been achieved made Auum wonder why their enemy hadn’t done it hours earlier.

Auum walked towards the ruined gates and peered out onto the scorched field. He straightened in surprise and stood in full view of the enemy, watching them withdraw. Only one man stood there now and he raised a spear with a piece of grubby white cloth tied to it. Small groups of soldiers and mages stopped and turned before reaching their lines. The soldier waved his makeshift flag, took his sword from its scabbard and laid it on the ground.

‘He wants to talk,’ said Ulysan, coming to Auum’s shoulder.

‘I have nothing to say to a human,’ said Auum.

‘You have nothing to lose by hearing him out.’

‘And nothing to gain,’ said Auum. ‘Clearly they feel the battle is won and he is seeking our surrender. He must know we won’t agree.’

‘Talk to him,’ said Ulysan. ‘Takaar always said knowing your enemy gives you an edge. He will give away more than you will. He’s human, after all.’

‘He assumes we respect some white flag? He’s either very brave or very stupid.’

‘He has mages ready to cast should he be struck down. He’s not that stupid.’

Auum thought for a moment. ‘It can do no harm, I suppose. I’ll go.’

‘You should guard yourself as he does.’

Auum shook his head. ‘I am not afraid of them.’

He walked from the gates, keeping his eyes fixed on the human. To his credit, he showed no fear. He stood proud, the spear held in his left hand, its base on the ground and the flag hanging limp from its tip. Auum stopped when he was three paces away, the soldier shielding his body from the mages and close enough to kill his enemy with a single strike.

‘I am Auum, Arch of the TaiGethen,’ he said.

‘I am Jeral, commander of this army,’ replied the man in passable elvish.

‘You? I don’t think so. Three senior soldiers command your force. One we know is dead. Send one of the others.’

‘There has been a change of command,’ replied Jeral.

Auum nodded slowly. That explained the change in tactics, at least.

‘What do you want?’

Jeral smiled. ‘It’s over, Auum. Your gates are gone. I can do the same to your walls tomorrow. I can flood your city with spells and send my soldiers in at the end to finish the rest. We know you have no strength of arms. We respect and fear the TaiGethen but you are terribly few. You have dressed your townsfolk up as soldiers, while I have an army of two thousand here and another two thousand will arrive overnight. We could defeat you without magic, such is our strength.

‘Surrender.’

‘To what end?’ Auum knew the numbers, but to hear them from his enemy’s mouth gave them greater force. ‘We will not become your slaves.’

‘I will give you until first light tomorrow. Any who wish to can leave through your broken gates and surrender to me without fear of death. I have no wish to spill more of your people’s blood.’

‘Liar. We know why you are here. To finish us. To end the elven race. And you may get your wish, but you will pay for it step after bloody step. Send your magic and your swords. We will kill ten of you for every one of us who perishes. You think we are beaten? You know nothing of the spirit of my people.

‘Go back to your army, Jeral. Tell your soldiers that they must defeat the TaiGethen. This is our forest, our land, given to us by Yniss, and he will not turn his back on us. You will not prevail.’

Jeral nodded. ‘So be it. Your words will chase you and your people to your grave.’

‘I look forward to killing you,’ said Auum.

‘Not if I see you first.’

Jeral bowed, turned and walked away. Auum watched him for a moment before trotting back to the gates, where Ulysan was waiting with the TaiGethen.

‘Well?’ asked Ulysan.

‘He does not fear us but some in his army doubt their victory is assured, which is why he seeks a bloodless end. I will not give it to him. We know his numbers and we know what he will do. Come, we have work to do before dawn.’

Chapter 35

Jeral was enjoying a decent night’s sleep in a hammock near a good roaring fire when the angry shouting disturbed him. He opened his eyes. It was full night. The argument was coming from his left, towards the forward pickets. He’d feared TaiGethen attack during the night and the wards were thick on the ground. Rested mages were ready to cast on anything that crossed the line.

He heaved himself to the ground and belted on his sword. He was joined by other curious soldiers as he walked towards the disturbance. This was high-level stuff. The raised voices were those of Lockesh and Sinese, commander of the second army. Their words were clear long before he saw their fire-lit silhouettes.

‘. . . know what is best for those under my command. You have no authority over me, Lockesh. Back off.’

‘We have cast all day. We have won the battle. Now your slacklipped charges are here dripping poison into the ears of my mages.’

‘They have a right to know,’ Sinese spat.

His was a tall and broad silhouette. A career soldier, but one for whom the line between command and care was too often blurred.

‘They have no
rights
,’ Lockesh sneered. ‘They are military mages. They do as they are ordered, the same as every soldier.’

‘I am astonished by your complacency. This is not some trifling matter. Mages could start falling from the sky, or be engulfed by their own flame.’

‘
If! If
the Sundering should happen. It has not, and while it has not your mages will join battle with mine. They
will
fight.’

‘Gentlemen, gentlemen. The camp is awake and hanging on your every word,’ said Jeral, nodding at Hynd, who was standing nearby looking, frankly, frightened. ‘Can I help at all?’

Sinese looked at him as he might look at a smear of shit on his shoe. ‘Who the hell are you?’

‘I am Jeral, commander of the Ysundeneth army.’

Sinese tipped back his head and roared with laughter.

‘Some good news at last. A real soldier, by the look of you.’ His expression sobered. ‘But no doubt you’re also complicit in hiding the risk our brother mages face.’

‘No, sir. I am anxious to see this battle won before that risk grows any further. What’s happened?’

Lockesh waved a hand at Sinese. ‘In his wisdom, the general relayed Ystormun’s news to all under his command. His mages, he says, are now too scared to cast in case their spells consume them.’

‘The information is clear,’ said Sinese. ‘This battle must be won by sword alone.’

‘We heard different,’ said Lockesh. ‘We heard that the battle must be won at pace to avoid such risks. We have made great strides, but we must use our magical resources tomorrow.’

Jeral nodded. ‘That’s about the size of it, General.’

‘Then put your own mages in the line of danger. Make them cast knowing every construct might bite them without warning.’

‘Fair enough,’ said Jeral. ‘So long as your blades are the first through the gates.’

‘That’s not going to be so easy,’ said Hynd quietly.

‘What? Why?’

‘My Lord Lockesh, if I may?’ Lockesh nodded and Hynd continued: ‘The damage is already done.’

‘What damage?’ demanded Jeral, suddenly feeling nervous. ‘Talk to me, Hynd.’

‘You have to understand how much of a mage’s ability is based on confidence in the unbroken flow of mana, and how dangerous it is if that flow is interrupted. We’ve all experienced it in simulations, and not all of us have come through them unscathed.’

‘But the flow isn’t interrupted, is it?’

‘Not right now,’ said Hynd. ‘But what about in the next moment, or the next? It eats away our confidence, and a mage worrying about the flow cannot make a solid construct.’

‘But you have to risk it, right?’ Jeral spread his hands. ‘Every time I pick up my sword I’m gambling that the enemy I face isn’t as good as me. Warfare is a gamble for every one of us. We need you.’

‘I’m just being honest,’ said Hynd. ‘I’ve seen the look on many of our mages’ faces. They feel betrayed that they weren’t told, and they’re scared of what might come next.’

‘But you, Hynd,’ said Jeral. ‘If I asked you to fly, you would.’

Hynd held his gaze for a moment before letting it drop and shaking his head.

‘I don’t know, Jeral, I really don’t.’

Jeral couldn’t believe what he was hearing. ‘All right, maybe flying’s a bad choice. An orb, then. You’d do that, right?’

Hynd didn’t answer.

‘Gods on a pyre,’ hissed Jeral. ‘I’ve got to have spotters and I’ve got to have ground casting.’