Terry W. Ervin (11 page)

Silver irises surrounded Grand Wizard Seelain’s pupils, and what appeared to be thin strands of white hair were only wisps among thick translucent waves. Despite her white hair, she looked too young to be a grand wizard. She pulled the hood of her cloak over her head with white-gloved hands. “Follow me,” the wizard directed in a quiet, authoritative voice.

Road Toad walked two paces ahead and to the left of the air wizard. I followed two paces behind and to the right. He held his sword ready along with a javelin. I clutched my spear, wondering why such a powerful wizard didn’t have her own bodyguards, and why Major Parks had thought I was competent to defend her.

Thumps, not unlike panzer cannon fire, only deeper and more distant, sounded. We were only fifty yards from the wooden palisade. Soldiers carrying stretchers bearing wounded streamed past us while squads sprinted forward, toward the line that had thus far held.

Grand Wizard Seelain gazed ahead to our left at the Crusaders who waited behind the wooden wall. They’d removed their forage caps and were quickly pulling the goggled masks over their heads and faces. Then she gazed upward and scanned the sky.

I risked a quick glance up, and spotted circling dragons. I didn’t take the time to count. I figured she could watch the sky; I’d watch for threats from zombies on the ground. Explosions that sounded like a panzer cannon’s impact rose from beyond the earthen barrier.

Road Toad snatched a tattered cloak from a fallen officer and stepped in front of Grand Wizard Seelain. He held out the ruddy-brown garment adorned with purple and gold diagonal stripes. “Grand Wizard, place this over your robes.” He must have felt it was important, because he’d turned his back to the enemy.

The wizard sneered in disdain and moved to step past Road Toad.

Despite our proximity to the raging battle, Road Toad again blocked the wizard’s path. “I am charged with defending you.” The mercenary’s voice was deferential but insistent. “With this the enemy will not readily identify you as a target equal to your stature and strength.”

Winds swirled about the wizard, like she was preparing to brush Road Toad aside. Even so, I swallowed and stood next to Road Toad, lending him my support.

Two explosions, sending gouts of dirt and rock mixed with searing metal, slammed into zombies and defenders alike as they fought atop the earthen mound. A third shell landed midway between the mound and the wall. I flinched when its concussive wave struck my back. But Road Toad and Grand Wizard Seelain stood facing each other.

She pointed. “That is the enemy’s artillery, Mercenary. Do you know what comes next? The Crusaders do.” She glanced over at them in their goggled masks, fixing bayonets to the end of their muzzleloading rifles. “I do, and I am more capable of defending myself than you could possibly imagine. I suffer your accompaniment only as an oath to General Ellis.”

Road Toad stood his ground. “If it is your objective to expend your energies fending against enemy fire brought upon yourself, I will step aside.” Road Toad’s voice cut through the mayhem sixty yards ahead. “If you desire to focus your energies, aimed at the enemy’s destruction, don this garment.”

Watching the dispute, I nodded agreement with Road Toad’s assertion.

With a huff, Grand Wizard Seelain relented. Road Toad set the cloak over her shoulders and fastened it with a silver dragonhead clasp.

Just as we reached the palisade, the tenor of shouts changed to choking screams. Instead of explosive metal, sickly yellow-green clouds rose from the area where the artillery rounds fell. Instinctively, I held my breath.

“Chlorine gas,” announced Grand Wizard Seelain and spun her staff, pointing at one of the toxic plumes. Scattered dozens of wizards garbed as light infantrymen just behind the lines raised and gestured with their staves, summoning and harnessing elemental spirits.

Wherever enemy artillery landed, it released the poisonous vapor. The soldiers retreated, pursued by the unaffected zombies. But, after the initial shock, few solders fell to the gas. Wherever a wizard pointed, a wind elemental rushed in and took up the yellow-green cloud in a whirlwind before spiriting it away, skyward. Two leveled out and sped clouds of the deadly gas toward the enemy. Grand Wizard Seelain added her strength as she advanced, sending a stiff breeze over the mound and back toward the enemy, carrying remnants of the chlorine gas with it.

Even so, the zombies had crested the earthen mound, and the pitched battle now raged between the mound and the palisade. Desperate picket teams banded together into rings while captains led reserves over the wall to stem the zombie tide.

“We must retake the mound quickly,” said Seelain.

As if on cue, the Crusaders opened fire. The front rank’s volley knocked back a wall of zombies that had scaled the mound near the center and were preparing to enter the fray. The back rank opened up while the front reloaded.

The effectiveness of Crusader firepower brought a cheer from Prince Reveron’s men. A third and fourth volley of what had to be saint-blessed bullets allowed the prince’s men to retake the mound’s center. Three red dragons came in low, laying fire on the field beyond the mound. Tracers chased after them, machine gun fire wounding one.

Wizard Seelain stood between me and Road Toad at the wooden palisade. I blocked out the cries and looked past the gore of the fallen. Even as Prince Reveron’s men advanced to retake their positions, freemen with sacks of salt hurriedly stepped among the fallen zombies, scattering the white crystals on the still animated and grasping limbs. Other freemen with stretchers carried the wounded back from the line to the healers.

Even I knew another enemy wave would soon follow. The salt and dead soldiers reminded me of Guzzy. What would it be like to be pummeled and torn apart by the enemy? What would I do if Road Toad fell? Would the coming carnage claim both of us?

The grand wizard interrupted my thoughts with a question. “Mercenary, from whence do you draw your arrogance?”

Road Toad had been surveying the scene as well. “Grand Wizard, I’ve stood to nine pitch battles equal to this. That doesn’t count skirmishes, and my career before becoming a mercenary.”

“And your nervous young partner?” she asked, looking at me.

“He’s wiser than either of us who bicker within sight of the enemy.” She faced neither Road Toad nor me, and instead inspected her staff.

“He’s put down souled zombies and ogres,” added Road Toad. “And together we slew a panzer crew. He stood with me against the enemy when others fled.”

“What are your mercenary names?”

“I am Road Toad. He is Flank Hawk.”

Road Toad’s statement surprised me, but I did my best to disguise it when Grand Wizard Seelain turned to me and nodded. I nodded in return, catching Road Toad’s wink.

“Road Toad,” said Seelain. “Are there other mercenaries you trust as much as young Flank Hawk?”

Road Toad pointed to two of our campmates, Pops Weasel and Short Two Blades. They were standing beyond the wooden wall to our left, near a heavy set, brown-skinned man. Grand Wizard Seelain led us to them.

The dark-skinned man bowed his head at her approach. “Grand Wizard Seelain.” His voice rumbled as he spoke. “The enemy is reforming. Colonel Jantz says we are down to sixty percent strength. We’ve all but expended our reserves. Except for the horse cavalry,” he added, rolling a pebble between his thumb and forefinger.

“That may be true, Master Wizard Golt, but we’ve yet to unleash your power and that of your fellow earth wizards.” When Wizard Golt smiled, revealing soil-colored teeth to match his deep brown eyes, Wizard Seelain continued, “Will you stand to battle with me and my assigned mercenaries, Road Toad and Flank Hawk? They vouch for the competence of your mercenary defenders.”

Although a master wizard was only one rank below a grand, the earth wizard seemed to hold his magic in check better than Grand Wizard Seelain. Power still radiated from her, but at a fraction of its former strength. I knew very little about wizards. I didn’t know if seeping energies was a mark of attaining grand status. Maybe it was the earth wizard’s elemental specialty, or simply who he was that enabled such control.

Short Two Blades crossed his arms over his chest and shot me a glance. Pops spit and grinned at me after Wizard Golt introduced them to Wizard Seelain. I was glad to have Short and Pops nearby.

I stood, as did Road Toad, Pops and Short, watching different directions while our charges conferred.

“I note that you are permitted to wear your brown robes, Master Wizard Golt.”

Wizard Golt didn’t respond. Instead he studied his bare feet. They appeared dry and rough, like sun-baked sand. “Short Two Blades,” he said. “Inform Colonel Jantz that the Necromancer King’s force has organized and is prepared to advance.”

Short sprinted off with the message.

“Shall we hold the center?” asked Wizard Seelain. She hadn’t waited for an answer before striding toward the earthen mound.

“I would suggest,” said Road Toad, “at least fifty paces either to the right or left of center.”

Wizard Seelain glanced back at me and I nodded in agreement. She veered to the right. The Keeseean soldiers that stood ready at the base of the mound, and those that lay flat against it, made room for Road Toad to climb to the top. He signaled for the wizards. Pops and I followed them up.

Wizard Golt asked Wizard Seelain as they surveyed the field leading towards the woods holding the enemy, “When did you arrive?”

“Just before dawn.”

“Does the prince know you are here?”

“Of course he does,” she said.

“Let me clarify. Does he know you are on the battle line?”

She ignored his question. “Will the prince’s reinforcements arrive in time?”

Wizard Golt pressed his body against the earth. “Cavalry, very light and fleet is close. The march of soldiers, heavy footmen.” He shook his head. “The enemy comes.”

I readied my crossbow and peered over the edge of the mound. I slipped a slice of dried apple into my mouth. It was tart and lightly spiced with ginger, but I lost interest in the taste. Emerging from the woods behind a vanguard of at least five hundred zombies, rumbled twenty panzers. Running beside and behind them came hordes of goblins. And behind them marched armored battle ogres carrying spiked clubs and massive machetes.

A small pang of despair knotted in my stomach. Compared to the oncoming enemy, the prince’s men, even backed by wizards, looked like a frail levee about to be overrun by an unstoppable storm surge.

I looked up, seeking the prince and his serpent cavalry. I spotted the dragons, and something else far above them. It was hard to tell, but I thought they were smaller than the dragons. They flew in formations of three, like geese. I was pretty sure it was their buzzing growl that echoed down from the sky. I whispered to Road Toad, “What are those?”

Grand Wizard Seelain answered my question. “Those are Stukas. Dive-bombers, bearing the same hooked-cross emblem as the panzers.” She squinted, staring up at the circling enemy and flatly stated, “King Tobias just learned of them. They are why I am here.”

2,873 Years before the Reign of King Tobias of Keesee

The nearest American frigate’s radar locked onto the rising ballistic missile just as an enemy torpedo detonated 14 feet below the waterline. The explosive concussion, centered eight feet aft of the foredeck, knocked out radar guidance and communication systems an instant before the frigate’s first surface-to-air missile left its launcher.

“Fire aft anti-torpedo torpedo,” ordered the missile sub captain. If it worked, it would allow more time to complete their task. Delay the inevitable.

“Anti-torpedo torpedo in the water,” announced the first officer. “Preparing to launch second missile.”

“Much noise,” said the sonar man. “Active line of sonobouys. I believe a second torpedo, dropped from a helicopter into the water.” An explosion reverberated through the missile sub. The sonar man held his earphone away from his head, but stared at the screen. “Friendly diesel sub hit.”

A closer, lesser explosion announced the success of the anti-torpedo torpedo.

“Deploy decoys,” ordered the captain, for what it was worth.

“Second missile ready,” said the first officer.

“Launch second missile,” ordered the captain. “Prepare third and then fourth. Do not await confirmation of my order. Launch immediately upon readiness.” Even before he finished, the missile sub shuddered a second time as another ballistic missiles raced skyward.

Somehow I managed to ignore the rotting stench of the cut and broken zombies scattered behind our lines, beyond the earthen mound and the broad trench. Some still smoldered where the dragons had breathed upon them. It was impossible to ignore the slick bloody gore because I was lying in it, watching the enemy advance. A red soil-encrusted film covered my breastplate and padded armor more than my boots even though I’d stepped over slain friend and foe alike to reach my position. How many washings would it take to cleanse everything?

Earth Wizard Golt’s bare feet remained clean of blood and he’d walked where I had. I wondered if I could hire an enchanter to rid my uniform of the stains.

Lying on the mound to my left was Grand Wizard Seelain and beyond her Road Toad. To my right was Short Two Blades, then Master Wizard Golt and Pops Weasel. All round us were regular Keeseean troops. Their grit-covered faces showed determination mixed with fear.