Stealing Sorcery (14 page)

Just having walls gives the defenders a tremendous advantage.

Taelien quickly scanned across the map, noting two water sources flowing into the city walls. Controlling those points would be important – water was not only necessary for the people inside to survive, it was also a potential method for infiltration or for the enemy to send troops out, depending on who controlled it.

“I fear I don’t recognize all these types of pieces. I see spears, swords, bows, catapults, and commanding officers, which I’m familiar with. I’m not certain what this one,” he pointed at a piece, “or these two types of pieces represent.”

“Those,” Laurent pointed to a unit of unique red pieces, “Are my pride and joy.”

“Sorcerers,” Morningway clarified.

Laurent scoffed. “The Cinders are no mere ‘sorcerers’. Once you see what they can do…”

‘Cinders’ appears to be a division name within this Ember Legion. I know I’ve heard those names.
He scratched at his chin.
Weren’t those the war sorcerers who died during the siege of – oh.

Am I fighting the final battle against the Xixian Empire?

The fall of Xixis was legendary, but details were scarce. The capital city of the Esharen had withstood numerous assaults throughout the millennia of its existence, with most invading armies unceremoniously crushed. While Xixis did eventually fall, the circumstances behind the final battle were known to few – mostly because so few survived it.

Something so terrible had happened there that Xixis was no longer even drawn on maps. Some claimed that Vyrek Sul, the final emperor, had cast a ritual that had immolated the entire city and burned most of the invading army alive. Others spoke of a plague that spread through the survivors, claiming their lives before they could return home in victory. Still others claimed that the desperate Xixian sorcerers had discovered a way to force the dead to stand and fight again, controlling both former friends and foes like deadly puppets, forcing friends to cut their former comrades apart to keep them from rising again.

This could be one interpretation of how the battle may have been waged,
Taelien realized.
There are books detailing how many troops were sent to the battle, and analysis of the claims of the survivors. I even read a few of them back when I was in my early days of training. A shame that was so long ago – those details might have been useful.

“The Cinders have a reputation that precedes them, Colonel Morningway. I’m certain they will be instrumental in our success,” Taelien offered respectfully. It was not a mere platitude – he suspected that the sorcerers would be necessary to offer any form of fighting chance against the capitol city of Xixis.

Laurent grinned in reply. “Glad someone around here takes my men seriously.”

“What of these other figures?” Taelien pointed at the other two types he had failed to identify.

“These first ones are infiltrators. I’m not surprised a paladin wouldn’t be familiar with them.” Ravellan folded his arms.

A light jab, but one intended to make it clear he doesn’t have much respect for my organization. I’m probably not supposed to stand for the paladins being insulted, I suppose. Either that or I’m supposed to grin and bear it, since he outranks me and I want to influence him. Not sure on which.
“On the contrary, General. We make judicious use of scouts and infiltrators. We simply do not give them different pieces on our war maps, because our enemies tend to use them, too.”

Herod flushed, gritting his teeth. “Of course.”

That might have been a poor move, but it felt great.
“And the final pieces?”

“Anything not covered by the other categories.” Morningway pointed at one of the white pieces close to the back of the army. “These ones here represent medics, for example. Others represent messengers, squires, and other miscellaneous support troops.”

Taelien nodded.
That takes about eight hundred ‘troops’ out of my calculations, since these would not be direct combatants.
“Excellent, thank you for the clarifications. I assume the grid squares on the map represent one kilometer?”

“Yes.” Morningway picked up an archer piece that was near the front lines. “Meaning our forward troops are currently outside of the range of their archers and just approaching the range of their siege.”

“And I assume they are aware of us already?” Taelien folded his arms, squinting at the organization of the troops. He already saw elements he wanted to reorganize – spearmen that needed to be moved in front of swords, archers that were uselessly out of range, and sorcerers with no protection – but he suspected those issues were less important than the basics of the first engagement.

“Yes, we sent a messenger ahead with our demands days ago. He never returned, of course. We’ve spent the intervening time taking positions and evaluating their movements. We currently plan to engage at nightfall.” Morningway walked over to a stack of soldiers that were off the board. “These additional troops represent reinforcements we are expecting from Valeria. They should arrive within a few days. We were expecting them by now, but we no longer feel we can wait. Even a few more days could cost the prince his life.”

Prince? What’s this now? I probably should already know this, and I’ve already been asking a lot of questions. Maybe I should try to figure this out on my own.

“I would advise against attacking at nightfall,” Taelien offered.

“Oh? And why is that?” Ravellan leaned across the table, looking unamused. Taelien felt his lip twitch when the larger man knocked over a soldier piece with his movement.

Herod sure does a good job of pretending to be an asshole. I hope he wasn’t actually like this when he was a paladin officer.

“Infiltration at night might offer some slim benefits, but the Esharen have better night vision than we do. Their archers will be better shots at night.”

The old general rolled his eyes. “Of course they will. We’re not idiots, boy. We’re going to open up with sorcerers and burn their siege. Once we do that, we can start pounding their walls from a distance without opposition.”

Taelien scratched at his chin.
Not a bad idea, actually, at least on the surface. Am I supposed to find flaws in that plan?

“We’d be playing our best hand early,” Taelien hazarded. “It’s a sound plan, but we’d have to be prepared for the consequences. Any Esharen that are directly exposed to the bombardment will adapt to it. At this distance, our sorcerers won’t have any degree of precision – they might destroy the siege engines, but the enemy troops will barely be touched. And if the Esharen withdraw after absorbing sorcerous energy from the attacks –”

“They’ll be immune to it next time.” Laurent tapped his fingers on the table. “That’s only true if our sorcerers use the same dominion each time, however.”

“How versatile are these ‘Cinders’? I recall hearing they’re primarily trained in Valerian War Sorcery, utilizing the dominion of flame across broad areas.” He couldn’t keep himself from smirking a little. If they were going to be testing him on history, he’d have to drop as many little facts like that as possible.

“Actually, no.”

Taelien frowned.

“You’re not entirely wrong – they do focus on broad-area bombardment, using the Valerian school. The name ‘Cinders’ doesn’t come from using the Dominion of Flame, contrary to popular belief. It’s just derived from the name Ember Legion. We have a broad variety of different types of sorcery at our disposal. Stone sorcery is actually the most common, followed by lightning.”

Huh.
“The versatility of your sorcerers does them credit, Colonel.”

Taelien pondered that for a moment. “Do we know anything about the enemy sorcerers? Bringing our own sorcerers into engagement range might be dangerous if we don’t know how many sorcerers they have, or how powerful they are.”

Laurent gave a helpless shrug. “Our best men have been trying to break through the divination shield around the city since we arrived, but we’ve had no success.”

“What about mundane scouts?” Taelien pointed at a lake that fed water into the city. “Could we send some of our infiltrators up one of the waterways to gather some intelligence?”

“It’s a city, not a single fortress,” Ravellan noted, reaching a hand up to straighten his hair. “They could have sorcerers dispersed throughout the entire area. We can’t know for certain until we attack, and our sorcerers have the longest range, so they offer the lowest risk.”

Excellent points. Maybe they’re supposed to be right about this part of the strategy, and the key is that I’m supposed to know when not to argue?

He argued anyway.

“What about sending in some infiltrators during daylight, while we still have some time, with the intent of capturing an enemy officer? Or even just a single enemy sorcerer? Either could potentially provide us with useful information.”

The three officers glanced at each other, but Ravellan shook his head.

“I don’t like the odds of a group of our scouts being able to get in there and out before nightfall. And infiltration during daylight hours wouldn’t be easy.”

Taelien turned to Laurent. “Do you have any Sight Sorcerers, by any chance?”

Laurent nodded. “Of course. We have the largest collection of sorcerers here on the continent. What did you have in mind?”

“Even in daylight, a small team accompanied by a sight sorcerer could most likely get inside the city. Do we know where any key points in the city are located? Their central government building, perhaps, or their military headquarters?”

The officers shook their heads. “No, the city has been significantly renovated since the last time we attacked. We don’t even know where they’re keeping the prince…”

There’s that mention of the prince again. I’m clearly supposed to know who that is, but why? Maybe I’m being too stubborn about asking.

“What can you tell me about the prince’s situation?” He was purposefully vague, since he didn’t want to openly display his complete ignorance.

“Prince Adellan is the foundation of our alliance. If he dies, everything we’ve worked for could fall apart,” Morningway offered. “His capture was a tremendous blow to morale, but it also served to unite us like never before. Velthryn’s forces, Belyr’s Ember Legion, and even Valeria working together – it’s unprecedented. But his death could splinter this frail alliance before it firmly takes root.”

Prince Adellan?...

I’ve been looking at this whole scenario the wrong way. This isn’t the siege of Xixis. This is an attack on Orlyn – the same city I just returned from.

And it’s an attack that’s destined to fail.

The swordsman bit his lip. Prince Adellan had thrown himself from the tower chamber he had been locked away in. The attempt at escape had been a futile gesture – the “water” below his tower was just painted tiles, and he had died from the impact. The whole setup of his prison tower had been a cruel joke – a “room fit for a prince” that he had been unable to reach while he had been chained to the wall.

Taelien knew this well because he had been imprisoned in the same chamber, hundreds of years after Adellan’s death. While this assault on the city would fail, and Adellan would die, the city would be successfully claimed by human armies many years in the future – and humans would prove to have just as depraved senses of humor as the Esharen had.

“I might know where the prince is being held,” Taelien offered, his mind swimming with new information.

“Oh? And how is that?” Ravellan tilted his head to the side, looking more curious than imposing this time.

I’m pretty sure telling them that I’ve been sent back in time is out of the question. Not only does even the most elementary education in sorcerous theory indicate that time sorcery of that nature is impossible, it would sound rather absurd.

“This is their palace, correct?” Taelien pointed at a large building on the south side of the city. He hadn’t recognized Orlyn previously because of the massive renovations that had occurred in the intervening centuries – even the walls were in different locations – but the place he knew as the ‘low palace’ was still in the same location relative where Lake Evershine flowed into the city.

Answering questions with questions is a tried and true tactic,
Taelien assured himself.

“Yes, we believe so,” Morningway offered, leaning her elbows on the table. “Why would the prince be there?”

“Well, from what little I was told before being sent here, the message sent upon the prince’s capture indicated he would be treated with ‘all of the accoutrements deserved of a prince’, or something along those lines. Korvax, the local ruler, is known for his twisted sense of humor. Rather than keeping Prince Adellan in a prison, why not keep him right inside the palace?”

“It’s possible,” Ravellan admitted in a drawn-out tone, “But guesswork at best. And the palace will be better defended than any other location in the city. Even if we think he’s in there, what does that gain us? We’d still have to take the entire city to have a chance at cracking the palace open.”

“Not necessarily.” Taelien folded his hands together, finally feeling like a plan was coming together. “The hardest part is getting inside the city itself – even the waterways are likely to be guarded.”