Army of the Dead (7 page)

“The largest armies that we have are the Fakarans,” frowned Lord Kiamesh, “yet there is nothing there for Vand to plunder. Still, he would have to allocate at least three hundred thousand to Fakara to be assured of victory. That means that we are more likely to face four hundred thousand in Khadora than five.”

“I cannot fault your reasoning,” nodded Emperor Marak. “The real danger is even worse. If Vand can quickly crush either the Sakovans or the Fakarans, his armies allocated to those countries can flank us by coming over the mountains.”

“Which is why you want the frontier estates left intact,” interjected Lord Quilo. “That makes perfect sense now. They are our buffer against a surprise flanking movement.”

“Precisely,” nodded Marak, “but there will come a time when we are forced to use them.”

“Thus your conflict with sending the Chula to aid the Sakovans,” nodded Lord Faliman. “In essence, they will be helping us no matter where they fight, but we must decide where they will be the most effective.”

* * *

The Star of Sakova had a fitful night that was not very restful. Besides the nightmares, every strange sound awakened her. She knew that her nerves were on edge with the impending invasion, so she decided to give up on sleeping. She wandered out of the Imperial Guard headquarters where she had been given a room. The streets were empty and the city was quiet. She saw solders upon the wall that surrounded the city and assumed that others were patrolling the waterfront.

Lyra wandered the streets of Alamar with no particular destination in mind. Her mind wandered as erratically as her feet did. Images of her youth flashed through her mind, suddenly replaced with the sights and sounds of ancient Angragar. She remembered her first journey into the Sakova with her friends Syman and Antello, who had grown to become full-fledged Sakovans. Visions of her entire life passed through her head, but her thoughts always returned to Marak. No matter how much she tried to put him out of her mind and concentrate on other things, his smiling face always ended up stuck in her mind.

“You are going to wear those boots out,” came a friendly voice from the shadow. “Can’t sleep?”

“Uncle Temiker,” smiled Lyra. “I guess there is too much on my mind to sleep this night.”

“Uncle?” chuckled the old mage. “I haven’t been called that in a while. I thought you would be thinking about the coming battle, but it sounds like your mind is in the past. What is bothering you?”

“I’m not sure,” Lyra admitted. “My mind has been wandering all night, but it always comes back to Marak.”

“You like him a lot, don’t you?” asked Temiker.

“I love him,” smiled Lyra, “but that hardly matters. It is a love that can never be. Perhaps if we had met in another place or another time, we would have a happy life together, but this war will tear us apart.”

“The odds are against any of us living through this war,” shrugged Temiker, “but those are just odds. People have beaten the odds before. Besides, you have Kaltara. You haven’t lost your faith, have you?”

“Certainly not,” Lyra shook her head vigorously.

“Well,” smiled the mage, “you are special in Kaltara’s eyes. If anyone survives this war it will be you and Marak.”

“That is where you are wrong,” frowned Lyra. “We have been chosen by Kaltara and given positions of great responsibility, but we are merely tools of Kaltara. We are the instruments to revive the people’s faith in God. Our task is almost over.”

“You think Kaltara is using you?” frowned Temiker.

“Of course He is,” nodded Lyra. “Do not take my words in the wrong sense. I am not feeling abused by God. I am thrilled to be His tool for the betterment of the world, but I also understand and accept my place in that world. The Three are to rid the world of Vand and to bring the people back to Kaltara. We will succeed in doing that, although I question how much of the world will survive the destruction that is coming to us. My thoughts go beyond that day of final triumph. Marak, Rejji, and I will be held up by the people of the world as saviors. We understand that we are not special, but the people will not understand that. They will want to worship us instead of Kaltara. That is not right, and it must not be allowed.”

“So what will stop that from happening?” asked Temiker.

“What else could cause it not to happen?” Lyra shrugged as tears welled up in her eyes. “Can’t you foresee what must happen? We must be sacrificed for the good of the world.”

“Preposterous,” scowled Temiker. “Put that nonsense out of your head immediately. Kaltara would not kill you for being His faithful servant. What kind of reward is that?”

“Our reward is in serving Him,” replied Lyra. “You do not understand. None of us will object to the sacrifice. We will all go willingly. Kaltara knows this. It is not my life that I will miss; I will miss the life with Marak that is never to be.”

“Where do I go to protest the deeds of Kaltara?” grumbled Temiker. “I cannot conceive of such treatment for the Three. I will not let it happen.”

“Don’t be silly,” smiled Lyra. “You cannot dictate terms to God.”

Lyra didn’t notice right away, but she had lost Temiker’s attention. The old mage had turned towards the waterfront and was sniffing the air. Lyra frowned at his sudden lack of attention.

“Have you been listening to me?” asked the Star of Sakova.

“Smell the air, Lyra,” urged the old mage. “This fog that is creeping in is unnatural.”

Lyra raised her nose and inhaled deeply. Deep furrows etched her flawless brow.

“It is the Motangans,” she said softly. “The boy Kenda from Duran spoke of an eerie morning fog before the city was attacked. The enemy is offshore and getting ready to unleash their evil. The Time of Cleansing has arrived.”

“We must rouse the city,” Temiker declared urgently. “I will gather the mages; you wake the soldiers. Tell everyone to remain quiet. We must not let the Motangans know that we are awake.”

Lyra nodded and ran off. Temiker entered the schoolhouse and started waking the mages. Within an hour the entire city was awake and quietly moving to their stations. By that time the sky was beginning to lighten, but the unnatural fog persisted.

Lyra stood on the roof of the Imperial Guard headquarters. LifeTender stood at her right hand and ValleyBreeze her left. The Star of Sakova gazed to her right where General Manitow stood with his advisors and a small group of mages who could cast the air tunnel spell. She waited patiently for the general to signal that his troops were ready.

“We are set,” General Manitow declared. “Show us the enemy.”

Lyra nodded to the two mages beside her who immediately gave a signal to the other mages lining the waterfront. Hundreds of mages simultaneously cast the same spell, and the wind started to flow eastward. Within moments the wind was roaring out to sea and carrying the unnatural fog with it. Gasps echoed all over the city as the Motangan armada was revealed. The ships had been sitting quietly offshore, their sails slack from the lack of wind. The Sakovans stared out at two hundred monstrous vessels sitting offshore.

The Motangans had been in the process of preparing for their attack, and the sudden disappearance of the fog caused chaos within the fleet. Some catapults were immediately launched, sending huge balls of fire flying towards the city, but the wind had already hit the Motangan sails. The leviathans bounced every which way as the wind drove the ships backwards, causing most of the catapults to miss their targets.

Scores of Sakovan catapults immediately fired at the ships, some of them fired haphazardly, while others fired late because their operators took time to aim them. Those that were aimed fell short of their targets as the Motangan ships were blown away from the coast. The Time of Cleansing began with total chaos.

The captains of the Motangan ships recovered quickly, turning their bows out of the wind and retreating a safe distance from the city. The Sakovan catapults fell silent as everyone waited to see what would happen next. Lyra instructed the mages to rest and the wind died down. For a long time, both sides stood staring at each other. Eventually, the sun broke the horizon and the winds picked up. With the breeze blowing towards the shore, a dozen Motangan ships broke from the armada and headed south. Another dozen proceeded north.

“Send General Addley’s army to the south of the city,” General Manitow instructed his mages. “Notify General Romero to head north. Inform each of them that approximately twelve thousand enemy troops will be put ashore in their sector in an attempt to flank the city.”

The rest of the Motangan ships jockeyed for position as the armada reformed into four distinct groupings. Four long lines of ships, running north to south, faced the city. The first row of ships raised full sails and started moving closer to shore, while the other three rows sat motionless. The Sakovans tensed as they waited for the signals to respond to the new threat.

“There are so many of them,” Lyra sighed. “Give the signal to the mages.”

LifeTender and ValleyBreeze sent the messages to the mages using air tunnels. The mages had to work harder the second time to overcome the natural onshore breeze. The wind slowly died as the mages’ spells reversed the airflow. Soon a slow offshore wind began and started building in strength.

The Motangan ships fired their catapults at the beach where the mages were lined up, while the Sakovan catapults aimed for the stern of the ships to account for movement from the mage-created breeze. Huge balls of fire soared towards the beach, and groups of Sakovan mages scattered. The wind faltered a bit, but the mages who fled immediately rejoined the line in a different place. Several Sakovan catapults scored direct hits on some of the ships. Motangans raced around in an attempt to extinguish the blazes.

Another round of catapults fired from the ships. The behemoths immediately turned out of the wind after firing and tried to dodge the second round of catapults from the Sakovans. One ship was hit with two loads of burning material and its sails went up in flames. It drifted freely as the crew tried to put the fires out. Even as the first row was retreating, the second row of Motangans ships started heading for the city.

“How long can your mages keep up the wind?” asked General Manitow.

“Not indefinitely,” Lyra replied. “It takes a great deal of power to fight nature. The winds are against us.”

“They are aiming their catapults at the mages,” the general declared, “not my catapults. They are not afraid to lose ships this close to shore. Can you move your mages back?”

“Tell them to drop the wind,” Lyra ordered the mages next to her. “When they start it up again, they are to slowly back up so their position keeps changing.”

LifeTender and ValleyBreeze relayed the information to the mages. When the second row of ships got within range, Lyra gave the order to summon the wind. Moments later, lightning flashed in the clear sky. The lightning bolts slammed into the beach where the mages had just moved back from. Lyra gasped in horror as the lightning bolts blew up huge clouds of sand.

“Tell them to shield themselves,” Lyra said to her mages. “Every other mage is to shield himself and his partner.”

“That will cut the wind in half,” warned ValleyBreeze.

“Do it!” shouted Lyra. “They can not keep up the wind for long anyway. I will not sacrifice our mages at this stage of the battle.”

“A wise call,” commented General Manitow as he pointed out to sea. “They are lowering small boats and have dropped their sails.”

“Dropped their sails?” echoed Lyra. “They will be easy targets for our catapults.”

“I know,” nodded the general, “and so do they. They are sacrificing the ships to get their men ashore. Use your mages for other tasks. The battle has changed.”

Lyra ordered the mages to retreat as she watched balls of fire impacting on the Motangan ships. Hundreds of small boats dotted the water as the Motangan ships used their catapults to bombard the city. Sakovan archers raced to the waterfront, dodging missiles that were slamming into the buildings of the city. Lyra looked out at the first row of ships and saw that every one of them was burning to one degree or another. The Sakovan catapults were firing as fast as they could be reloaded, and the Motangan behemoths were taking a beating, but hundreds of small boats kept rowing towards the shore.

“Tell the mages to concentrate on the small boats,” instructed Lyra. “Fireballs are preferred at this point.”

“Third wave coming in,” warned General Manitow.

Lyra looked out to sea and saw a new wave of leviathans dodging the burning and sinking hulks of the second wave. The smoke rising into the air from the burning buildings and the burning ships was growing thick. She saw her mages aiming fireballs at the small boats with qualified success. Some of the small boats were capsized and a few were burning, but there were far too many of them to hit them all.

As the small boats got closer to shore, the Sakovan archers opened fire. Thousands of arrows flew into the sea and rained down on the small boats. Suddenly, Motangan mages started throwing fireballs of their own from the small boats.

“Third wave is lowering their small boats,” announced General Manitow.

The catapults of the third wave were aimed at the Sakovan catapults. The behemoths fired as quickly as they could reload even as the small boats were being lowered and filled with soldiers.

“Their aim is excellent,” scowled General Manitow. “We are losing our catapults quickly. Our archers cannot keep up either. There are just too many of them, and they are being driven by a leader who is not concerned with losses.”

“Are you saying that Alamar is lost?” asked Lyra.

“Not yet,” General Manitow shook his head, “but I doubt that we can last the day. The Motangans will lose thousands of men trying to get ashore, but they will succeed.”

Lyra looked at the harbor and saw bodies floating everywhere. Some of the small boats were piling dead shipmates on the bow of their boats to hide behind, while others were throwing the dead overboard. All of the second wave ships had sunk, and many of the third waves ships were burning, but the Sakovan catapults had gone silent. The Motangan catapults were now targeting the city buildings. Sections of Alamar were aflame, and soldiers raced around trying to put out the fires. Temiker appeared alongside Lyra and shook his head.