Devan Chronicles Series: Books 1-3 (53 page)

“What is ballet?”

“I’ll tell you later,” Julia said in a distracted voice. Peering through the long stalks of dead grass, she saw two armies.

Two?

One was about a thousand men strong and was galloping forward. Dammit! They must have seen the dust. The bigger one had stopped its progress. It was so far distant she couldn’t see any detail. To her the legion seemed a dark mass clumped together between the gentle hills. Could she even hit something that far away?

“The first one will catch Delin if we don’t stop them,” Julia said urgently.

“That’s the vanguard,” Mathius said.

“What difference does that make?”

“None,” Mathius said. “I was just saying that’s all. Don’t be so touchy.”

Touchy he says. Didn’t she have a right to feel upset? Grasping her magic, she drew lightning down amongst the vanguard.

Craaaack! Booom!

The blast echoed back to her. The sound bounced from the hillsides as if coming from all directions. Julia was careful to make the lightning come straight down so it would not give away her position. It struck the first quarter of the van. Men and horses dropped straight to the ground dead before they hit. Others were thrown from their horses and killed when their panicked mounts rolled over them. One horse then another screamed in pain galloping with their manes on fire. Dust hung heavy in the air along with smoke from burning grass and bodies.

Ulp.

Julia looked at Mathius and he paled. Her face must be something to see. She didn’t know what Mathius had expected, and she didn’t have time to ask. Her thoughts were cold and sharp as a steel blade. She turned back in time to see the men reorganising. She couldn’t allow that so she killed them.

Craaaack! Booom!

Ignoring the noise as best she could, Julia waited for the dust to clear. She estimated that no more than hundred had escaped her lightning. They were running back to their friends. Nodding to herself in cold satisfaction, she turned her attention to the main body of the legion. They hadn’t been idle while she dealt with the van. Each battalion was forming itself into neat rows ready to charge into the hills. A large group were unmoving behind the cavalry. She assumed them to be the sorcerers and generals. They didn’t know where she was and had decided to attack in all directions hoping to get lucky. As one, they thundered outward like a fan.

Julia attacked behind them trying for the sorcerers.

Craaaack! Booom!

Julia knew she had failed when she saw the shimmering ward. It was in the shape of a dome and covered the unmoving group completely. All the cavalry was outside it and charging the hills. If she waited much longer the closest group would see her horse.

“They learned to ward the sides as well as overhead,” Mathius commented.

“Hmmm,” Julia said nodding at the charging men. “We have other things to worry about,” she said aiming for the closest group.

Craaaack! Booom!

Julia realised her mistake even as the lightning struck, but she was unable to stop it. As the middle section of cavalry went down, the sorcerers attacked her hill. They had used the cavalry to draw her fire in order to locate her. Now it was Julia’s turn to hunker beneath a shield. She dug her fingers into the dirt trying to flatten her self even more to the ground. She would have dug a hole and pulled the soil back in after her if she could. Mathius was doing the same. Sweat poured from her as tongues of flame rolled over the hill and heated the air beyond endurance, but they had to endure it or die.

Finally, after an eternity in the furnace of the sorcerer’s wrath, the billowing flames died away. Her little hill was completely black. Every living thing except Mathius and her was destroyed leaving nothing but fine black ash. There were fires burning all round the hill, and the smoke was making it hard to breathe. Tears ran from her eyes as the stink of burning bodies impinged on her senses. Behind her, the horses lay burning. In front, more of the enemy cavalry lay dead than she had accounted for. The sorcerers had killed their own men trying to reach her.

“Mathius, ack, ack,” Julia hacked and coughed as the smoke billowed up. Mathius looked at her in fear. His face and hands were covered in soot and ash and his eyes were red and streamed constantly, just as hers did. “We have to... ack, ack, burn them out. Lightning won’t... ack, ack, ack, work.”

“If we do that, we might die with them,” Mathius rasped.

“No choice, the ward... ack, ack, too strong for me.”

Mathius nodded and looked toward the relatively calm area around the sorcerer’s ward. Suddenly a huge ball of fire rose and dropped just behind the ward. Another followed it and then another in rapid succession. He made them fall on all sides, and soon the enemy was surrounded by fire.

Julia lost sight of everything in front of her as smoke billowed up. The breeze whipped the fire into an inferno. Surely nothing could withstand such heat. The sorcerers thought differently. She could feel them pouring their magic into the ward. It was holding the flames at bay! Before Julia could even try to hit it again, more fire engulfed her hill. Mathius’ shield was the first to fail, but before the flames could do more than singe his robe, she extended hers to cover him. Her shield dimmed and the air inside became hot as an oven. Gritting her teeth at the strain, Julia drew more magic to strengthen it. She hugged Mathius close so that it covered a smaller area, and prayed.

The flames kept coming and coming.

How could they keep it up? Even she couldn’t last this long! Julia pulled more magic, and then again. The air was almost impossible to breathe with the smoke rising around them. It was so hot that her dress was starting to smolder, and her exposed skin felt stretched tight. Mathius was using a piece of his burnt robe to cover his nose and mouth. She grabbed a piece and did likewise.

It didn’t help.

* * *

Keverin galloped north in a thunder of hooves. He knew it was foolish, but he couldn’t make himself care. When Julia left Malcor for the north he had fallen back on his duty like a coward as he always did and let her go. This time was different. Keverin had found himself saddling Cavell with no memory of making the decision. When he left the stable, his men were waiting for him. They had found him out somehow, and they wouldn’t let him leave without them. They said
their
Julia was fighting for them, and that she would need them all to fight for her. Of course, he had ordered them to stay at Malcor and defend it under Jihan’s orders, but Jihan had come down and said he was coming as well. None of his arguments swayed either Jihan or his own men, so he gave in. He couldn’t afford to waste any more time arguing.

And that was why he was racing north with two thousand men toward their deaths.

The day had moved on toward evening when they were close enough to see the flames. The smoke blanketed the sky for leagues. When Keverin saw the devastation, his heart sank. There was a wall of fire advancing across the plain, and behind it nothing remained except ash. There was no sign of Julia. Burned corpses of men and horses littered the ground. Keverin didn’t know where Julia had set up her ambush, but with her strength, she could be a league or more away. He was about to order his men to search for her, when a shout of alarm went up. He turned to see the remnants of a Hasian battalion galloping out of dense smoke.

“Athione!” Keverin roared and spurred to meet them.

“Athione and Julia!” His men responded.

“Malcor!” Jihan and his men roared.

Keverin took his first two men relatively easy. The Hasians seemed more intent on running from the flames than in attacking him, but he didn’t have it all his own way. A man, a Legion Captain by his rank badge, attacked and managed to wound him slightly. Keverin’s rage was such that he barely felt the wound. He cut the man down and spurred Cavell toward another target without slowing.

Jihan’s men fought methodically and in pairs where that was possible. Jihan himself worked his horse into the fray and was unstoppable. He controlled his horse with his knees turning Jezy this way and that, while his sword blurred around him. Nothing came near to wounding him.

Keverin cut another man from his saddle and it was over. Casting about for Jihan, he breathed easier when he found his friend unharmed. Dead and wounded were scattered over the ash black ground. He had lost easily five dozen men, but he quickly revised that figure when he found many of those unhorsed were just wounded.

“Mount the wounded in front of the able bodied,” he said to Jihan.

“Best we can do,” Jihan agreed and quickly had the wounded mounted in front of their companions. They would ride in the centre of his formation.

Keverin beckoned Brian. “I want you and a half dozen men to scout ahead—no more than a few hundred yards mind. Keep a sharp eye for Julia and Mathius, and watch those fires. If the wind changes we’ll all be for it.”

“Yes lord,” Brian said then turned and shouted to the men. “First six men with me!”

Keverin waited until the scouts were well ahead then led his men forward. He remembered his own advice and watched the flames warily. The wind seemed to be favouring them, but he wasn’t comforted.

“Have you any idea of her plan?” Jihan said.

“No, but knowing her she probably rode up to them and ordered them to go home,” Keverin said sourly.

Jihan snorted but didn’t laugh. There really wasn’t anything to laugh about in this situation.

The ash puffed up and mixed with the dust. They had to cover their faces to filter it out. The stink of burnt meat was enough to turn Keverin’s stomach, but he had to continue. His Julia was in the middle of this somewhere. He wanted to dash ahead and find her, but his common sense stopped him this time. He had to search the hills methodically. The flames had denuded the entire area of grass, but it was still hard to see if a body lay in the ash. The thought of her dead sent a pang of grief through him, but he managed to stop the impulse to charge off yet again.

The wind changed direction and added a new dimension to his worry for Julia. The burnt area they were moving through was safe enough from the flames, but they could still die from the smoke, which was becoming worse now. He was having trouble breathing, and as the smoke became denser, he was able to see less. He slowed the column to a crawl to be sure not to miss anything.

“Look there,” Jihan said pointing ahead.

The scouts were heading back in.

“Report,” Keverin ordered.

“Hasians m’lord,” Brian said. “The smoke is too thick to see, but we heard them.”

“How many?”

“Can’t tell m’lord.”

Keverin nodded. The cursed smoke was too thick.

“I’ll take half around the hill—” Jihan began.

“And I’ll draw them in,” Keverin finished.

They both grinned.

Jihan led half the men behind the hill while Keverin and the rest of the men pretended to stop for a drink. He watched Jihan slowly disappear into the smoke and the Hasians appear from the other side of the hill. The legionnaires were in good order. They hadn’t lost any men. The scouts out front were searching for a way around the fire, which was starting to circle back towards the south. When they saw Keverin’s men, they spurred back to the main body to report. A moment later, the battalion charged to the attack.

Keverin’s men held a tight formation and resisted the initial push until Jihan circled the hill and struck the Hasians in the flank. They were taken completely by surprise. Before their captain could reorganise, they were split into two groups.

“Sweep right!” Keverin roared over the din of battle.

Keverin led his men and slammed into the Hasians. He screamed his rage into the faces of his enemies and cleaved men from the saddle. His blade blurred right and left harvesting arms and heads as he urged Cavell forward with his knees.

“Athione!” Keverin roared as Cavell kicked a man intent on stabbing him in the back. “Athione!”

Jihan had more difficulty with his half. It was bad luck that most of the sergeants were trapped in his part of the battalion. Consequently, the legionnaires were well organised. Jihan tried to cut down key men in the Hasian line, but the press of battle prevented his efforts for the most part.

It was Keverin’s turn to attack from the rear. He finished his half of the Hasian battalion and immediately wheeled to attack those pressing Jihan. The extra men made all the difference and the battle ended with him owning the field.

Keverin didn’t feel very victorious as he stared at all the empty saddles. He had lost more than three hundred men. Jihan had lost more. The legions were deadly. A single battalion—a thousand men—had almost succeeded in holding off twice its number of Devan guardsmen even when surprised.

Keverin took off his helmet to let the air dry his sweat soaked hair. He watched his men give the grace to comrades and enemies alike. There weren’t many wounded left among his men. He tried not to notice the familiar faces who were gone.

“We can’t do this again,” Keverin said wiping his face.

“If we have to, we will,” Jihan said grimly. “Julia is more important than the men. She’s more important than all of us—you know that.”

“I love her, my friend,” Keverin said. “She’s important to me.”

“I don’t mean that. Without her Deva is finished. Even with her it might be.”

Keverin pulled his helmet back on. He didn’t want to think about this. Not now, not ever. Jihan was right about her importance to Deva, but Julia wasn’t a tool. She was to be his consort whether she knew it or not. She was already his life.

“I can’t think about Deva now,” Keverin said. “We better move on.”

Jihan nodded and gave the order to mount up, but the horses were panicky. The men cursed as they tried to climb into the saddle. The horses side stepped and reared. Some turning full circle as their riders tried and failed to climb into the saddle. They were not at all happy about moving on.

“On foot?” Jihan said grimly.

“Have to.”

Another candlemark went by and Keverin was beginning to despair of ever finding her. He was tired, worried, and his feet hurt. The sun had disappeared behind the smoke, and the very air itself was hot. Breathing the foul stuff was almost impossible.