Guardians of Magessa (The Birthright Chronicles Book 1) (23 page)

After the dwarves had been driven off the
south wall, they had ceased their attacks. Their casualties had been heavy, and
they realized that they were up against a magician so powerful that none of
their minor magic workers could challenge him alone. Had they known that there
were actually two magicians, they probably would have left. But as it was, they
were most likely trying to figure out how to draw out and kill Timothy.

Despite the fact that there had been no
more attacks, Josiah was still physically drained. The fighting at the
beginning of the day had exhausted all of the soldiers. Just standing lookout
on the wall as the sun beat down in full force was grueling, and several
soldiers had already dropped from heat exhaustion.

Josiah knew that if he fell asleep, he
would not wake up until the next morning, so he forced his eyes open and got to
his feet. In front of him, Lemin and Timothy sat playing a game that, according
to them, was the magician’s equivalent to chess. When Josiah asked about it,
Lemin tried to explain, but Josiah only caught bits and pieces of what was
said. In theory, an infinite number of magicians could play it, but games were
normally limited to no more than eight players. Games at official tournaments
were restricted to two alliances, each with as many magicians as necessary.
Each magician used a very small amount of magic to create an army, the size of
which was determined beforehand. When the army was completed, it consisted of
small soldiers made of magic, each of which was an example of an ideal soldier.
They would react like real people; however, it was up to the magician to direct
them in general battle formations and tactics. When both magicians had
completed their armies, they would engage, each trying to outmaneuver the
other. The name of the game, Josiah recalled, was Lex Tanna.

Josiah was very interested in the game,
but it created a paradox in his mind. According to Lemin, a magician was to use
his power only at the direction of Elohim, and Josiah could not believe that
Elohim would direct someone to use magic to play a game. It was not until Lemin
offered an explanation that Josiah finally understood.

“There are two kinds of magic in this
respect,” Lemin had said. “There is magic that you never use unless directed to
do so, and there is magic that you use unless directed not to do so. The magic
that is not used unless directed to do so is normally impressive magic like
causing a city to rise out of the ground. Most magic, however, is of the other
kind; that is, you use it unless otherwise directed. For instance, magic can
always be used for things that Elohim would approve of, like protecting
yourself and your companions in battle. In this case, playing this game is
keeping us sharp in our magical skills and military tactics, which definitely
wins Elohim's approval.”

Josiah enjoyed watching the two magicians
competing against each other, so he concentrated on it in order to stay awake.
Lemin was clearly much more skilled at the game than Timothy, and though he had
an army that was only one-fifth the size of Timothy’s, he still had the upper
hand. It took him another five minutes to dismantle his opponent's army, but he
did it with very little damage to his own. Lemin immediately launched into a
detailed explanation of what Timothy had done correctly and poorly. Josiah
moved to the window of the tower and looked south, searching for any sign of
movement. Black, rolling fields met his gaze, and he turned away discouraged.
He stepped out of the tower for a breath of fresh air, and the night chill hit
him like a blow. He pulled his cloak about himself and started down the wall
toward the section where his men were sleeping. As he went, he had to be
careful to avoid sleeping soldiers that lay on the wall in a seemingly
haphazard fashion; however, upon closer scrutiny, he could see that a path had
been left for people to traverse the wall. As he neared the first lookout
station, a familiar figure became visible: Petra Bentinck.

“Have you seen anything?” Josiah asked
after the pleasantries had been given and received. “Not the slightest
movement,” Petra answered, keeping his eyes on the city. “And that goes for
both directions. There’s nothing to the north. Hold on a second,” he said. “Is
that a light over by the north gate?” he asked, pointing in that general
direction.

“It could be,” Josiah answered. “Why? Do
you think you see something?”

“It could be nothing,” Petra answered,
“but it looks like there are some dwarves leaving the city. I can’t be sure at
this distance, though.”

“I’ll get Timothy and Lemin and see if
they can help,” Josiah said, and in minutes they were at the lookout post,
staring at the spot that Petra pointed out. Lemin snapped his fingers, and
suddenly the sky grew lighter until it was almost as bright as day.

“Is it dawn already?” asked Josiah in
surprise.

“No,” Timothy answered. “Lemin has simply
cast a spell that allows us to see as though it were day. Look well and tell me
what you see.” Lemin waved his hand, and suddenly the north side of the city
rushed toward the group until it appeared as though they viewed it from only a
hundred feet away. Immediately Petra’s concerns were confirmed. Dwarves were
streaming out of the northern gate in an exodus and turned west to march along
the Apathy Range, leaving only enough dwarves to maintain a half-hearted siege
for the defenders to fight against. The sound of fingers snapping returned the
observers’ vision back to normal.

“What in heaven’s name is happening?”
Petra asked.

“The bulk of their army, at least fifty
thousand strong, is moving west toward Belmoth,” Josiah explained. “Belmoth has
fewer soldiers than we do, and they’ll have no warning. There’s practically no
way they’ll be able to withstand the attack.”

“We need to send them a message then,”
Petra exclaimed.

“If we send one through Magessa, they’ll
get there much too late to be of any help,” Timothy answered. The only way that
we can possibly get to Belmoth before the dwarves is if we take the same route
they are taking; however, we can’t do that until we destroy the dwarf army that
is still in the city.”

“And the dwarves left enough soldiers to
keep us from being able to easily destroy them,” Lemin finished.

“Exactly,” Timothy said. “Of course we
have to try to get past them, but it will be very difficult, if not entirely
impossible.”

“It’s not impossible,” Petra said.

“You’re correct,” Lemin said. “Given the
correct strategy, we could destroy them.”

“That’s not exactly what I meant,” Petra
tried to explain, but Timothy interrupted him.

“We actually wouldn’t need to destroy the
whole army. We would only have to get a messenger past them.”

“True,” Lemin
conceded, “but with as few men as we have…”

“Guys,” Petra interrupted, and Timothy and
Lemin looked at him. Petra gestured toward the fields to the south of the city.
The magicians gasped as they saw where Petra was pointing. The moon was hidden
behind a cloud, but even in the dim light, the soldiers could see that the
field was crowded with ranks upon ranks of men for as far as they could see.
Suddenly a soldier further down the wall began to shout.

“Idiot!” Lemin hissed. “What does he want
to do? Just tell the enemy what’s happening?”

“Make a sound-absorbing spell,” Timothy
suggested, and the two magicians immediately lapsed into silence as they
struggled to weave a web of magic over the wall. Though Timothy was unable to
construct something outside of his area of expertise, he was able to help the
older magician with the task.

“I don’t care what you have to do, but
shut that man up,” Lemin gasped to Josiah. Josiah turned and ran down to the
agitated soldier. Petra, at a loss for what to do, followed him telling
everyone they passed to keep silent. Less than a minute later, he saw in the
distance that Josiah had reached the man that was shouting in ecstasy. As Petra
drew closer, he could hear Josiah reasoning with the man to be silent.

“But look out there!” the man shouted.
“It’s a lot of…” Josiah brought his elbow up into the man’s face, cutting off
his shout. The man slumped to the wall unconscious.

“I never liked that guy anyway,” Josiah
muttered to Petra as he ran up, “and Lemin did say to shut him up no matter
what I had to do.” Petra gave a dry laugh and turned with Josiah to look out at
the approaching army of reinforcements.

“How many men would you say are out
there?” Josiah asked as he leaned on the crenellation.

“Well, it’s pretty dark,” Petra said, “but
I would say there are anywhere between ten and fifteen thousand soldiers, and
most of them are veterans. My guess is that the majority of them are elves.
Probably only a fourth or a fifth of them are human with no more than a few
hundred orcs in the ranks."

“I suppose the grand admiral will want to
have all of the officers with him when he meets the leader of this force, so
I’d better go find him,” Josiah said. Petra followed him down the wall to the
nearest group of soldiers.

“There’s no place for us to keep all of
them,” Petra commented, gesturing to the approaching army.

“I’m sure we’ll think of something,”
Josiah said. “Though they’ll probably have to sleep at the foot of the wall,”
he added.

“If they get any sleep at all,” Petra
said. “My guess is that it will take the majority of the night to get them up
onto the wall, after which they will be positioned in a way to maximize the
effect of their attack. By the time all of that is done, it will almost be
sunrise, and the fight will begin.”

As the two men neared a group of soldiers,
Josiah held up a hand to silence Petra and turned his attention to the warriors
who were leaning up against the wall’s crenellation.

“Do any of you know where the grand
admiral is?” he asked.

“At his headquarters with his officers,”
one of the soldiers spoke up. “He’s getting ready to meet the leader of our
reinforcements and is gathering all of his commanders together to be there when
he does.”

“He always did like his ceremonies,”
Josiah commented, positioning himself so that his rank was visible to the men.
The soldiers jumped to attention and saluted Josiah, who returned their salute.

“At ease, men, and thank you for the
information,” he said. Without another word, he spun on his heels and headed
for the grand admiral’s headquarters.

“I guess those guys didn’t expect you to
be a commander,” Petra commented.

“The other commanders go about flaunting
their rank and using it to get what they want,” Josiah answered. “Since I don’t
do that, I am a bit of an anomaly, and many people do not suspect my rank.”

“I’m wondering if people respect you for
your humility,” Petra said thoughtfully, “or if they prefer the other
commanders. At least with the other ones, they know who they are dealing with
all of the time. With you, they can’t immediately tell what you're like.”

Josiah suddenly stopped and spun to face
Petra, moving in so that he was only inches away. “I do things the way that I
do because I think it is best for my men,” he said with a touch of hostility in
his voice. “If you ever question who the men respect more, you should ask them.
I’m confident that they will give me a good report.” Without another word,
Josiah whirled around and headed toward the grand admiral’s headquarters.

“Whoa!” Petra said. He ran after Josiah,
talking as he moved. “Sorry, Commander. I didn’t mean to insult you; I was just
asking a question.” Josiah paid him no heed so he discontinued talking and
lengthened his stride to keep up.

When they had almost reached the
headquarters of the grand admiral, Josiah stopped and turned around. He started
to talk, but Petra cut him off. “Look, Josiah, I’m sorry if I insulted you back
there. I was just asking a question and didn’t know what I was saying. I
mean….”

Josiah stopped him with a hand. “Petra,
there’s nothing more you need to say. I need to apologize to you for becoming
angry with you. You see, I have had quite a bit of criticism over the past
years concerning the way I hold my positions of authority. When I heard what
you said, I immediately thought you were attacking me, and I retaliated. It was
not until afterward that I thought better of it.”

“That’s okay, Josiah,” Petra said. “If I
had known, I wouldn’t have said anything.”

“And I’m sure you wouldn’t have, but I’m
just telling you this so that we don’t part on bad terms.”

“Why? Where are you going?”

Josiah sighed. “The grand admiral really
likes his ceremonies, which means that he’ll want all of his officers to be
with him when he receives the one in command of the army outside our walls. He
wants to make the correct impression, which means that you’ll not get to be
there, seeing that you have no rank of importance.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Petra
responded. “So when will I see you again?”

“Whenever this meeting is over,” Josiah
called over his shoulder. He turned his head forward and muttered, “And who
knows when that will be.”

Petra watched Josiah for several seconds
before turning away to go find something to do.
“After all,”
he said to
himself,
“there has to be something I can do in an army that’s preparing for
battle.”